The Braves may call up Aaron Blair to start Sunday - MLB

Braves pitching prospect Aaron Blair dominated the Durham Bulls on Tuesday, tossing seven scoreless no-hit innings with a walk and 10 strikeouts. The club’s fourth-best prospect according to MLB Pipeline, Blair may now be in line for a promotion from Triple-A Gwinnett to pitch on Sunday against the Mets, per David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Manager Fredi Gonzalez said the organization took note of Blair’s performance against the Bulls.

“(Blair) pitched real well — seven innings of no-hit baseball,” Gonzalez said. “We had a real big discussion after the game yesterday. And (president of baseball operations) John Hart was there and watched (Blair) pitch, said he was real good.”

Blair, 23, has a 1.42 ERA and a 22/5 K/BB ratio in his first three starts with Gwinnett.

The Braves optioned Williams Perez to Gwinnett on Wednesday, leaving a temporary gap in the rotation. Gonzalez is also considering Mike Foltynewicz and Ryan Weber as possible options to pitch on Sunday.

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The Yankees placed Nestor Cortes on the 15-day injured list with a left rotator cuff strain that will sideline the left-hander for at least two starts.

The move is retroactive to Monday and Cortes will be shut down for at least 15 days.

After Tuesday’s game, Cortes said the shoulder has been bothering him between starts and more so after he pitched five innings May 30 in Seattle.

“I took two days off and when I got to LA and threw that first day, I didn’t feel right,” Cortes said Tuesday. “But it was first day coming back from pitching so I knew it was going to be nagging a little bit. So I waited a little bit.

“That second day in LA was when I said something because it felt like I had pitched yesterday. So I wasn’t recovering in time.”

Cortes is 5-2 with a 5.16 ERA in 11 starts and has particularly struggled later in outings. Opponents are hitting .447 when facing him for the third time in a game.

Last year, Cortes was an All-Star and went 12-4 with a 2.44 ERA in 28 starts.

Randy Vásquez was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre to take Cortes’ spot in the rotation and will make his second career start in Thursday’s doubleheader. Vásquez made his major league debut May 26 against San Diego when the Yankees needed a starter because Domingo Germán was serving a 10-game suspension for using sticky substances.