Nestor Cortes likely to rejoin Yankees pitching staff for World Series

NEW YORK (AP) — Nestor Cortes appears likely to rejoin the New York Yankees pitching staff for the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The 29-year-old left-hander hasn’t pitched in a game since Sept. 18 because of a flexor strain in his pitching elbow.

“There’s a good chance of it,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Monday. “He’s scheduled to throw another live (batting practice) tomorrow, so if everything goes well there, I would say there’s a decent chance that he could be on the roster, yes.”

Cortes was 9-10 with a 3.77 ERA during the season.

Boone said Gerrit Cole will start Friday’s opener at Dodger Stadium.

Carlos Rodón is likely for Game 2 in Los Angeles, followed by Clarke Schmidt and Luis Gil for Games 3 and 4 at Yankee Stadium next week.

“We haven’t finalized that. I can tell you Gerrit will pitch Game 1 and a good chance … we’ll roll it out like that,” Boone said. “We’re still kind of basking in the aftermath of getting in and haven’t even started our preparation or things like that, so I don’t want to speak out of turn right now.”

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb