The Yankees’ pitching staff tossed a gem and the offense delivered with nine hits, including two home runs, to beat the Houston Astros on Saturday afternoon, 3-1.

The Yankees took a risk bringing Nestor Cortes back from the injured list. Sure, Cortes looked great in his two rehab starts with minor league affiliates, working back from a serious rotator cuff strain, but the left-hander hadn’t pitched against big-league hitters since May 30.

Cortes didn’t just smother Houston’s offense over four innings, setting the tone in a 3-1 win. He delivered his best start of the season.

The left-hander was in total control, striking out a season-high eight batters. Astros hitters whiffed 17 times against Cortes, coming up empty on exactly half of their swings. The only hit that Cortes allowed was his lone mistake, a two-strike cutter that leaked over the heart of the plate to leadoff man Jose Altuve — Altuve made him pay, crushing a solo home run 403 feet to left.

Cortes ended up throwing 64 pitches, handing the ball over to the best  bullpen in baseball in the fifth. Yankees relievers lived up to that reputation the rest of the way as Ian Hamilton, Tommy Kahnle, Michael King and closer Clay Holmes barely broke a sweat over five spotless innings, allowing just one base hit in that span.

Justin Verlander was traded by the New York Mets. The club sent the ace starter back to his former team, the Houston Astros, in exchange for two outfield prospects. The next day, Verlander sent a classy message to Mets fans after the trade.

“Thank you to the Mets and the incredible fans for my time here in NY. You welcomed me and my family with open arms and I can’t thank you  enough for the opportunity to play for this amazing city,” Verlander wrote.

Verlander, 40, signed a two-year, $86 million contract with the Mets this past offseason. The three-time Cy Young award winner pitched to a 3.15 ERA and was worth 2.1 Wins Above Replacement in the first half, which represented his only time with New York.

Luis Severino had another disastrous outing, giving up six runs before recording an out and never giving the Yankees a chance as they fell to the Orioles, 9-3, to drop the series on Sunday night at Camden Yards.

“Right now, I feel like I am the worst pitcher in the game, no doubt about it,” said Severino, who gave up a career-high nine earned runs  across 4 innings and now owns a 7.49 ERA through 12 starts.

Coming off the kind of game they believed they were capable of playing more of on Saturday night, an 8-3 win, the Yankees (55-50) returned to playing the kind of game that has left them in last place in  the AL East. 

The first-place Orioles (64-41), meanwhile, continued to look the part and dealt the Yankees a series loss on a weekend when Aaron Judge returned from the injured list in encouraging fashion but was given a breather for Sunday’s finale to properly build up his workload.

With the Blue Jays losing earlier in the day, the Yankees missed a chance to make up ground in the AL wild-card standings, remaining 3 games back of the final playoff spot.