BALTIMORE — Nestor Cortes messes with his windup to interrupt timing.
He adjusts arm slots and drops sidearm when hitters might be expecting a more over-the-top release.
He wants to be deceptive.
But the coloring on his glove does not appear to be part of the attack plan.
When white numbers were etched onto his glove and when those digits were blacked out, Cortes still frustrated Orioles batters in a 5-3 Yankees win at Camden Yards on Sunday afternoon.
Cortes took the mound in the first inning with his usual dark brand of glove — 44 Pro Gloves — which includes a white “44” stitched on the back and bottom of the glove.
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Cortes had an eventful first inning, which included a strikeout of Anthony Santander, who thought Cortes quick-pitched him, then he walked toward the Yankees dugout.
Home-plate umpire Bill Miller intercepted him on the way and pointed at the “44.”
“The fact that he came over to me and said that it was a problem kind of pissed me off,” said Cortes, who said he has pitched with the gloves since 2017. “But other than that, I didn’t have a big problem with it.”
Cortes did not ask for an explanation, but the Yankees used a sharpie in the dugout to darken the patch.
The lefty said he believed it was Miller, and not Orioles batters, who took issue with the glove.
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In the first-inning at-bat, Santander was bothered, Cortes said, because, “I came set before he was looking up.”
Nothing was called, and Cortes snuck in a second strike that had Santander complaining to Miller.
Cortes then struck him out to end the inning, the last Baltimore batters would see of the glove with white numbers.
It did not matter much. Cortes was solid through 5 ¹/₃ innings in which he allowed two runs — both scoring after he was pulled in the sixth.
“I thought he was sharp,” manager Aaron Boone said of Cortes, who won his second straight start to open the season. “They’re a tough lineup. It’s a good team, and they made him work.”
Cortes got into trouble twice, both times involving young, star catcher Adley Rutschman, who knocked three of the four hits against Cortes.
In the fourth, Rutschman singled and Cortes walked Santander with one out.
But Cortes induced fly outs from Austin Hays and Ramon Urias to escape.
He was not given the opportunity to escape in the sixth, when Cortes allowed another single to Rutschman and a double to Ryan Mountcastle.
Aaron Boone pulled Cortes, who is still building up, after 91 pitches, and Albert Abreu entered and allowed a two-run double to Santander.
Baltimore batters capitalized against the Yankees’ bullpen, but did not capitalize on Cortes’ glove.
“Felt like they were looking inside a lot,” Cortes said of the Orioles hitters, “but I was able to beat them.”
