Inside The Pinstripes

Surprise Trio Continues to Lead Yankees Pitching Staff to Best Start in Franchise History

Nestor Cortes, Clay Holmes and Jameson Taillon continued their dominant start to the 2022 season during Thursday's doubleheader, paving the way to some history.

Max Goodman

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After holding the Angels and their high-octane offense to three runs in three games at Yankee Stadium, including a bid for perfection on Thursday night, the Yankees made history.

New York's pitching staff has now allowed just 152 runs this year, the fewest through the first 51 games of a season in franchise history. 

It breaks the previous record of 159 runs set by the Yankees back in 1910.

If you heard that note this past winter, you'd probably assume the big names in pinstripes were the ones carrying both this rotation and bullpen, right?

A franchise-best start must mean Gerrit Cole is cruising atop the five-man staff with an emphatic resurgence from a healthy Luis Severino. In the 'pen, surely shutdown relievers like Jonathan Loáisiga, Chad Green and closer Aroldis Chapman have all been lights out. 

While each of those names have contributed to New York's historic, early-season success to a certain extent, it's actually been unlikely sources of dominance that have carried this staff as the Yankees steamroll into the month of June. In large part, the three-headed monster of Nestor Cortes, Clay Holmes and Jameson Taillon has led the way, a trio that was on full display during Thursday's doubleheader against Los Angeles. 

The day began with another brilliant start from Cortes. The southpaw went seven scoreless, his 19th start in a row—dating back to last summer—with three earned runs or fewer. That's historic on its own, the longest streak of that type in over a century (Russ Ford went 20 outings in a row with three runs or fewer from 1910 to 1911).

Cortes now has the second-best ERA (1.50) in all of Major League Baseball entering play on June 3. We're talking about a former 36th-round pick that's been designated for assignment twice in his big-league career. He may not light up the radar gun, but Cortes has found a way to completely baffle some of the best hitters in the sport. 

Next, Taillon flirted with perfection, finishing his latest start with eight innings of one-run ball and just two hits allowed. 

It's been a long road for Taillon just to continue pitching. The former No. 2 overall pick once battled back from testicular cancer, a diagnosis sandwiched between two Tommy John surgeries. He's evolved as a pitcher over the years while battling adversity only to produce what's poised to be the best campaign of his career, posting a sparkling 2.30 ERA with six wins in 10 starts.

And then there's Holmes, who hasn't allowed a run since Opening Day. 

It took the right-hander's worst outing in recent memory for an opposing lineup just to threaten against him. Los Angeles loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth on Thursday night, but his devastating sinker—darting in on the hands of righties at 100 mph—got him through the inning for his seventh save of the year and 25th scoreless frame in a row. 

Holmes had a 5.57 ERA over his four-year career in Pittsburgh. Now, he has an 0.35 ERA in 24 outings this year, bringing unquantifiable value to a bullpen that's been ravaged by injuries in recent weeks. 

Yankees manager Aaron Boone was asked about his starting pitchers on Thursday night after watching Cortes and Taillon continue to deal.

"Credit to them to getting themselves to this point to where they're these kinds of players, these kind of pitchers," he said. "Every story is a little bit different but there's grind and grit and perseverance and talent all part of it, all getting to this point to where you're this kind of player and pitcher. Just glad they're on my team."

Aaron Judge, who is having a similar impact on the offense with an MVP-caliber start to the season, echoed his skipper. While Taillon and Cortes are very different—and faced different types of adversity on their big-league journeys—their dominance in 2022 is one in the same.

"You got Nestor from the left side that can run the fastball, top of the zone and mix it off with that cutter," Judge told reporters. "He's messing with your timing, he's dropping angles, he's doing all sorts of things out there and makes it tough. And then you got Jamo who to me is just a power pitcher. He's gonna come at you with his best stuff, he's gonna challenge you. When you gotta face both of them in a series it's tough, but to face them both in one day, it makes for a tough day where you're just trying to maybe scrap out a 1-for-4 against those guys."

And again, that's before even mentioning Holmes and his emergence this year. Not too long ago, Boone said the reliever has the best sinker in the world. His numbers back that up.

The problem with categorizing these performances as unlikely is that it seems like nobody in the building on 161st street is particularly surprised. Fans and pundits didn't necessarily see this coming, but the Yankees had a feeling Cortes' breakout performance last year wasn't a fluke, they had faith that Taillon would bounce back from his ankle surgery and they were eager to see Holmes take the next step in his first full season in pinstripes.

It's the fact that they've been stars destined for the All-Star Game and award consideration at the end of the season that makes it a surprise. It's truly been a special and stunning trend to follow through the first two months of the season. 

Yes, the rest of the rotation has been strong to start the season and countless relievers have stepped up at points in the bullpen. It takes a comprehensive performance to set this type of franchise record this deep into a season. This all makes you wonder where this team would be if they didn't have these three arms, though.

Cortes, Holmes and Taillon have taken their own feel-good stories and turned them into historic dominance to this point in the season. On Thursday, they faced all-time greats like Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani and made them afterthoughts. 

If the rest of the Yankees' staff can continue to feed off those performances, and avoid any more significant injuries, we could be talking about this trio deep into the month of October and beyond.

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Max Goodman
MAX GOODMAN

Max Goodman covers the New York Yankees for Sports Illustrated and FanNation. Goodman has been on the Yankees beat for three seasons. He is also the publisher of Sports Illustrated and FanNation's Jets site, Jets Country. Before starting Inside The Pinstripes, Goodman attended Northwestern University and the Medill School of Journalism. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism and Master’s Degree in Sports Media, graduating in 2019. At school, Goodman was an anchor and reporter with NNN SportsNight and played on the club baseball team. While at Northwestern, Goodman interned with MLB.com as an associate reporter covering the Miami Marlins. He also interned with ESPN, working as an associate reporter on Mike Greenberg's Get Up. Goodman is from New York City. He grew up in Hell's Kitchen. Follow Goodman on Twitter @MaxTGoodman. You can connect with him via email by reaching out at maxgoodmansports@gmail.com.

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