Luke Voit gets four hits, four RBIs to back Nestor Cortes as Yankees beat Twins
Luke Voit of the Yankees celebrates his seventh-inning home run against the Twins at Yankee Stadium on Friday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Luke Voit didn’t think he deserved to lose his starting job to Anthony Rizzo. He told the Yankees that publicly. And now he is backing up his talk at the plate.
Voit went 4-for-5 with a home run and four RBIs as the Yankees crushed the Twins, 10-2, before 39,124 at Yankee Stadium on Friday night.
In his last six games, Voit is 11-for-21 (.524) with three home runs and 11 RBIs. He started at first base as Rizzo got the night off against a lefty after returning from a bout with COVID-19 on Wednesday.
"He’s a good player and a good hitter," Aaron Boone said. "He’s lost a lot of at-bats dealing with different injuries this year, so I know that part’s been frustrating for him. But when he’s in the lineup, he’s a really good hitter in this league. I’m sure everyone’s going to draw every conclusion, like everyone always does. ‘It’s because of this, it’s not because of that.’ He’s a good hitter. He’s a good player."
Nestor Cortes (2-1, 2.56 ERA) allowed two runs and struck out seven in seven innings as the Yankees won their eighth in a row and 20th in the last 25 games.
They moved within four games of the AL East-leading Rays, who lost to the White Sox, 7-5, as Yankees "Field of Dreams’’ Game nemesis Tim Anderson homered to tie it in the ninth and had an RBI single and scored in the top of the 11th for Chicago.
The Yankees hold the first wild card, one game ahead of Oakland and 1 1/2 ahead of Boston.
Aaron Judge and DJ LeMahieu (the latter on his bobblehead night) hit two-run homers for the Yankees, who took a 6-0 lead in the first two innings.
On Thursday, most of the Yankees’ pitchers wore T-shirts in pregame warmups honoring Cortes. "Nasty Nestor," the shirts read.
"That was a popular shirt," Boone said. "I think the guys got a kick out of that. Pretty cool shirt. Yeah. Nasty Nestor."
"It’s awesome," Cortes said. "I’ll say to my friends, ‘When you get a feeling like that, it’s like you finally made it.’ It’s fun to wear those and have teammates around you that support you."
The nickname certainly fit on Friday. Cortes, in his seventh start and 15th appearance of the season, set career highs in innings and pitches (104) and tied his career high in strikeouts. He didn’t allow a hit until former Yankee Rob Refsnyder singled to right with two outs in the fourth. Cortes allowed four hits, walked two and hit a batter.
"He’s been great," Boone said. "I don’t know if I necessarily envisioned him being a cornerstone right now in our rotation the way he’s pitching, but we kind of fell in love with him in ’19 just with who he is and the way he competes and the kind of different look he gives you than most of the people you see. But I think what the difference between ’19 and now is he’s a better pitcher. Better delivery, better command, crisper stuff, and he’s been good for us all year."
Cortes threw 11 pitches in the first inning. They ranged from 76 mph to 92. Not the kind of stuff that knocks the bat out of your hands, but it got three quick outs, the last two via strikeout.
After Cortes dropped down sidearm and fired a 92-mph fastball that Josh Donaldson took for a called third strike to end the inning, Donaldson just stood at the plate and stared at the mound in disbelief.
Donaldson struck out looking in the fourth, too, before finally denting Cortes with a two-run homer in the sixth to make the score 7-2.
How is Cortes doing it? How has a 26-year-old pitcher who had a 6.72 ERA coming into 2021 vaulted himself into the Yankees’ rotation after being signed as a minor league free agent in December?
In 2020, Cortes allowed 13 earned runs in 7 2⁄3 innings for Seattle. A year earlier, he appeared in 33 games (one start) for the Yankees and had his moments with a 5-1 record, but also had a 5.67 ERA. After that season, the Yankees traded him to Seattle for international bonus pool money. Not even for another player.
Still, Boone and general manager Brian Cashman must have liked something about Cortes. He started this season in the minors, was called up on May 30 and made his first start on July 4 in the second game of a doubleheader against the Mets.
The Yankees were at a low point after Game 1, having fallen to 41-41 as the Mets scored six runs in the top of the seventh for a 10-5 victory. Cortes then allowed one run in 3 1⁄3 innings to begin Game 2 as the Yankees won, 4-2, to begin their long hot streak. Beginning with that Cortes start, they have gone 30-11.
The Yankees improved to 107-38 against the Twins since 2002, including postseason. They announced themselves early with a four-run first and two-run second against rookie lefthander Charlie Barnes (0-3, 6.56), who was making his fourth big-league start.
Voit singled home two runs, Andrew Velazquez drew a bases-loaded walk and Brett Gardner had an RBI single.
Judge made it 6-0 with his 27th home run, a two-run shot to right in the second. Voit added an RBI double in the fourth and a 408-foot solo shot into the Yankees’ bullpen in the seventh.
In the eighth, LeMahieu hit his first homer since June 26. He had gone 199 plate appearances and 173 at-bats without one.
Gardner was hit in the right elbow by a pitch in the fifth and left an inning later. "It stiffened up on him pretty good," Boone said.
Anthony Rieber covers sports media and business and professional sports (you know, games and trades and things). He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since Jan. 1, 2026.
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