KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Yankees’ offense has rightfully grabbed much of the spotlight during the seven-game winning streak they brought into Saturday’s game against the Royals, but they haven’t done it alone.
While the lineup and offensive approach underwent a dramatic overhaul in the offseason, the Yankees didn’t add a whole lot to their pitching staff — either in personnel or coaches.
Where they did upgrade in that aspect of the game was behind the plate, where Jose Trevino and Kyle Higashioka have formed a solid tandem, after Gary Sanchez was jettisoned to Minnesota.
And much like a year ago, the results have been good — with some unlikely outliers.
The most prominent in the early going has been Gerrit Cole, who started against the Royals on Saturday at Kauffman Stadium, coming off a promising outing against Cleveland, in which he pitched 6²/₃ scoreless innings, struck out nine and eased some worries following an ugly first three starts to the season.
He lowered his ERA from 6.35 to 4.00, still the highest among the Yankees’ five starters.
That’s where the other outlier comes in.
After another impressive start, Nestor Cortes continues to prove that last year’s emergence wasn’t a fluke.
Despite not having especially good stuff, the lefty limited the Royals to one unearned run in five innings. The performance actually caused Cortes’ ERA to rise to 1.31, which is still the third-best in the American League.
Asked what he liked most about how Cortes pitches, Cole said: “The creativeness is probably my favorite part of his game. He has a really good understanding of what his stuff does and what a hitter sees. He has a unique talent to where he can execute pitches at a high level and [use] different rhythms and different deliveries. When he really gets in that groove to blend all those elements together, it’s extremely unique. It’s fun to watch.”
Manager Aaron Boone went in a different direction when describing what makes Cortes stand out.
“He’s competitive,’’ Boone said. “I love the way he competes. You can tell he really likes playing the game. There’s a fearlessness to the way he plays the game [and] a joy to the way he plays the game. He wants the ball.”
Boone also noted that on more than one occasion, Cortes has volunteered to take the field when the Yankees have been running low on position players late in a game.
That aspect was on display when he dove head first to beat the Guardians’ Steven Kwan to first on a grounder to first baseman Anthony Rizzo.
He’s also second in the AL with 12.19 strikeouts per nine innings, trailing only the Rays’ Shane McClanahan.
Cortes leads a staff that has an AL-best 2.84 ERA and a rotation that entered Saturday with a combined 2.88 ERA, behind just the Twins (2.84) in the AL.
The rotation — as well as the entire staff — will be given a stiffer test once they leave Kansas City following this weekend and have to face the Blue Jays’ powerful lineup.
The Yankees split a four-game series with Toronto in The Bronx earlier this month and the staff held up well, allowing just nine runs over the four games — with a pair of shutouts.
Since then, the Yankees haven’t faced a team with a winning record and the Blue Jays figure to be near the top of the AL East throughout the season.