BALTIMORE — On another hot, steamy day in Baltimore, the conditions were no match for Nestor Cortes.
The lefty delivered another sterling performance in his first start since making his All-Star debut, tossing six scoreless innings in the Yankees’ 6-0 win over the Orioles and left to a standing ovation from the sizable contingent of Yankees fans at Camden Yards.
Before the game, when asked about how the heat might impact Cortes, Aaron Boone said of the 27-year-old who grew up in Hialeah, Fla., “Nestor will be fine.”
He was better than that in a game which gave the Yankees another series win after going through a stretch when they lost eight of 12.
“There’s gonna be ups and downs in a season,’’ Cortes said. “If this is our bad part, I’ll take it. We’re grinding and I think people should expect the same thing in the second half that they saw in the first half.”
Cortes was speaking for the team, but he intends to keep pitching at his high level, as well.
And Aaron Judge figures to be right there with him.
The Yankees scored three runs in the third — with Judge delivering yet another long homer — and Jose Trevino added a career-high four hits.
Cortes convinced Boone to let him stay on the mound and get the final out of the sixth after he’d allowed a two-out single to Adley Rutschman.
“I looked away til he got to the mound and he said something along the lines of, ‘Do you have one more?’” Cortes said of the brief conversation. “I said, ‘Please let me have this one.’”
Cortes then got Ramon Urias to pop out to end his afternoon.
He pitched out of trouble in the second after a mishap in left.
With Rutschman at the plate, the Yankees had four players in the outfield, with Gleyber Torres having moved from second base to left field.
That’s just where Rutschman hit it and Torres dropped it near the warning track for what was initially — and correctly — ruled a two-base error, but later ill-advisedly changed to a double.
Urias followed with a single to right.
But Cortes didn’t let the miscue hurt the Yankees.
With runners on the corners, Cortes struck out Tyler Nevin and Robinson Chirinos to keep the game scoreless.
Right-hander Dean Kremer retired the first seven Yankees he faced before Trevino’s one-out single in the third.
After Joey Gallo popped out to left, DJ LeMahieu delivered a double to the gap in left-center that scored Trevino all the way from first for the game’s first run.
Judge then crushed another long homer to left, a two-run shot, to make it 3-0,
It gave Judge an MLB-leading 37 home runs on the season and four in five games since the All-Star break. He entered Sunday night with an MLB-best 81 RBIs, too.
The bottom of the lineup came through in the top of the sixth.
With two on and two out, Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled up the middle to drive in Anthony Rizzo and Trevino followed with a double to right that scored Matt Carpenter to make it 5-0.
Cortes cruised through much of his 94-pitch performance, allowing just six hits — and no walks — in six innings, while striking out seven. In four appearances in Baltimore, Cortes has given up just one earned run in 19 ²/₃ innings.
It was his second straight strong outing overall, after he closed out the first half with a good start against the Reds in The Bronx.
He lowered his ERA to 2.48 and he has allowed one run or fewer in three of his last four starts.
Clarke Schmidt picked up the save with three scoreless innings in his first action with the Yankees since June 22.
“Answering back, especially after the two games in Houston, was big-time,’’ Judge said of the team’s response to the doubleheader loss to the Astros on Thursday.
