Nestor Cortes still scratching his head about balk call
Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes Jr., center, reacts to umpires next to first baseman Anthony Rizzo, right, during the second inning of a game against the Athletics in Oakland, Calif., on Saturday. Credit: AP/Jeff Chiu
OAKLAND, Calif. — Nestor Cortes still isn’t sure what he did wrong.
The lefthander was charged with a run-scoring balk with two outs in the second inning in Saturday’s 3-2 loss to the A’s, which ended the Yankees’ winning streak at 13 games.
Cortes, whose quirky delivery has given many a batter fits this season, often hesitates in his delivery when a runner is on first in an attempt to hold the runner close.
"I usually hang up and try to read the runner, stuff like that," he said. "I was very surprised that the third base umpire was the one made the call. It is what it is."
Third base umpire Will Little thought Cortes held his leg too long in an attempt to deceive the runner, and the balk call made it 2-0.
Cortes disagreed, and continued to do so after the game.
"I’ve done the whole holding thing my whole career and have never been balked," he said. "That’s why I was a little shocked. It’s something I’m going to keep doing."
First baseman Anthony Rizzo threw up his arms when the call was made. Afterward, though he said he "didn’t see" the balk, he hedged somewhat while talking about it.
"These umpires are trained to look for that and they all do a really good job for the most part," Rizzo said. "Hard to argue with it."
Planned off day for Gio
Gio Urshela, activated from the injured list Thursday after missing 23 games with a left hamstring strain, started the first two games of this series before beginning Saturday’s game on the bench, with Rougned Odor getting the start at third.
"My body feels really good right now," said Urshela, who went 1-for-8 in the first two games but turned several spectacular plays in the field. "I feel ready, I feel like I can play every day right now. [I feel] 100%."
Urshela, who pinch hit in the eighth for Andrew Velazquez and grounded out, is hitting .270 with 11 homers, 41 RBIs and a .739 OPS in 87 games.
Boone closing in on Buck
Boone entered Saturday with 312 career wins as Yankees manager, one shy of Buck Showalter for ninth on the club’s all-time list (Joe McCarthy leads the way with 1,460 wins, followed by Joe Torre’s 1,173).
"Love Buck, have a good relationship with him," Boone said before coming up short on that attempt to tie Showalter in Saturday’s 3-2 loss to the A’s. "Talk to him periodically. Someone that I have a lot of respect for and obviously has had a great managerial career in this game in a lot of different places. Certainly respect his knowledge of the game. And so I don't know necessarily what to think about it.
"I mean, that's a guy that's done a lot in this game, in this chair. And this was only one of his handful of stops where he's had massive success. So I guess it’s kind of cool to hear you say it like that, but I don't necessarily know what I really think of it."
Boone, in his fourth season as manager, is 312-201 overall.
Rotation set for Anaheim
Corey Kluber (right shoulder strain) will be activated Monday night against the Angels — likely piggybacked by lefthander Andrew Heaney, as Kluber is not built up to go much more than three or four innings — followed by Jameson Taillon on Tuesday and Gerrit Cole on Wednesday. The Angels have not announced who will start Monday but have said Shohei Ohtani will pitch Tuesday and Jaime Barria will start Wednesday.
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
