Gerrit Cole had to come to the rescue for Yankees teammate Nestor Cortes on Sunday after a rather awkward mistake by catcher Kyle Higashioka.
Cortes started for the Yankees on Sunday against the Baltimore Orioles, and pitched a rare immaculate inning by striking out the side on nine pitches in the fourth inning. Obviously, it would be worth saving the baseball to commemorate the feat, but Higashioka tossed the ball into the crowd as he was coming off the field, perhaps not realizing the feat.
After Higashioka was shamed in the dugout, Cole intervened and negotiated the return of the game-used ball.
Higgy nooooooooo! 😂
Nestor Cortes gets his immaculate inning ball back after an assist from Gerrit Cole.#YANKSonYES pic.twitter.com/JkEIqlFGmK
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) April 17, 2022
The Yankees probably got lucky that one of their fans snagged the ball. An Orioles fan might not have been as accommodating.
Higashioka will take some grief for this, but it probably isn’t as bad as this mistake was.
