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With the game deadlocked in a scoreless tie after seven innings, Yankees manager Aaron Boone was put in a tight spot: should he let his locked-in starting pitcher, Nestor Cortes Jr., go back out to the mound despite a climbing pitch count? Or go to the bullpen to spare his unheralded ace?
Boone went with Option A. And though Cortes lost the no-hit bid two hitters later, the Yankees eventually gutted out a 1–0 win over the Rangers, and Cortes said he felt plenty strong enough to stay in the game that late.