Nestor Cortes placed on injured list with elbow flexor strain

Yankees lefty Nestor Cortes was placed on the 15-day injured list with a left elbow flexor strain on Wednesday, hours before he was scheduled to start a game against the Orioles at Yankee Stadium.

Jack Curry of the YES Network reported earlier on Wednesday that the Yankees had sent Cortes for an MRI on his elbow. Right-hander Cody Poteet was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in a corresponding move, and Marcus Stroman was tabbed to start against Baltimore.

The IL placement comes a week after Cortes pitched six shutout innings to help lead New York to a postseason-berth-clinching 2-1 win over Seattle and made a strong case to be part of the team’s October rotation.

Cortes has allowed just one earned run in his past 15 1/3 innings and has not allowed more than one earned run in six of his past seven outings. On the season, he’s 9-10 with a 3.77 ERA in 31 appearances (30 starts).

The Yankees can clinch the AL East title with a win on Wednesday against Baltimore.