Yankees Opening Day starter Nestor Cortes has final tuneup 

NORTH PORT, Fla. — Nestor Cortes, to use one of the cliches of spring training, “got his work in” Thursday afternoon against Atlanta.

Next stop for the lefthander: the mound at Minute Maid Park for Opening Day against the Astros.

“Given the circumstances, obviously, you don’t want to take the ball with Gerrit Cole being out,” Cortes said after allowing three runs, six hits, including a homer, and two walks in four innings in the Yankees' 5-2 loss. “But it’s a privilege to be selected to be the Opening Day starter. I know Boonie [manager Aaron Boone] and the organization has all the confidence in the world in me, and I’m happy for that. I’m ready to take on that [challenge].”

Cortes will start the opener because of Cole’s right elbow inflammation, an injury that will keep the Yankees’ ace sidelined for at least the first two months of the season.

The Astros' lineup may not be quite as loaded as in past years, but Cortes will face  a formidable group that includes Alex Bregman, Yordan Alvarez, Kyle Tucker and Yankees fan favorite Jose Altuve.

With that in mind, Cortes was glad he faced an “A” lineup Thursday. Atlanta, which went 104-58 last season (and lost in the NL Division Series) and returns much of that collection of talent, again is expected to contend for a World Series title.

“Coming in here, knowing I would face their ‘A’ lineup, [is] kind of like a tuneup for Houston,” Cortes said. “Houston [isn’t] any different than them as far as firepower, so it’s pretty good coming in here and facing those guys.”

Cortes struck out perennial NL MVP candidate Ronald Acuna Jr., who won the award in 2023, to start the bottom of the first. After Ozzie Albies flared a single to right, Cortes got Austin Riley to pop to second, then struck out Matt Olson to end the eight-pitch inning.

Cortes, in Boone’s words, seemed to get “a little tired there at the end” of the 80-degree afternoon, allowing a run in the fourth and two more in the fifth before being removed with none out in the inning. Orlando Arcia hit a solo homer off Cortes in the fifth.

“I thought he was pretty sharp,” Boone said.

Cortes finished spring training with a 7.71 ERA in five starts, but pay no attention to that statistic. He's healthy, something that was not the case a year ago.

Cortes followed up an All-Star 2022 season, one in which he went 12-4 with a 2.44 ERA in 28 starts, with a 2023 season that started and ended with shoulder issues. In between, he went 5-2 with a 4.97 ERA in 12 starts. He showed up for spring training last year with a left shoulder that felt sluggish in the days after pitching, more so than the typical soreness that follows throwing. He eventually was diagnosed with a rotator cuff strain.

“Every outing I’ve come into this spring has felt super-normal for me, what it was before, pre-2023,” Cortes said. “Today was my first time going five in spring. Obviously, next time, hopefully, five or six again, and keep building off that.”

Notes & quotes: DJ LeMahieu, who on Saturday suffered what Boone described as “a significant bone bruise” after fouling a ball off his right foot, did some light running and agility work at Steinbrenner Field late Thursday morning after not doing any baseball activities on Wednesday. “Better,” LeMahieu told reporters in Tampa of how he felt compared to the day before. If he makes steady progress in the next week but isn’t quite ready to play in Thursday’s season opener, the Yankees could backdate his injured list stint to start the regular season, meaning he would miss only a handful of games. “See how he continues to do day-by-day,” Boone said . . Boone confirmed Newsday’s report from late Wednesday night that Aaron Judge, who returned to the lineup Wednesday after missing a week-and-a-half with an abdominal injury, will start in leftfield Friday against the Mets, the first time he has played the position in a game. “I want to do it at least once,” Boone said . . . Oswaldo Cabrera, likely to make the team as a utilityman (he started Thursday's game in rightfield and later was shifted to first base), went 1-for-2. Cabrera, who had two hits in his previous game, is 9-for-43 (.209) with a .594 OPS in 18 games.