Cole looks like himself in another strong start
The Yankees’ ace is on his way to top form.
Friday night in The Bronx saw Gerrit Cole deliver another great start in his abbreviated season, leading the Yankees to a 6-1 victory to open their four-game series against the Rays.
“I had a little bit of everything working,” he said. “A few deep counts after the third, you know, I’d like to get those outs a little more efficiently, but for the most part, it was pretty good tonight.”
Cole kept the Rays to one run across six innings, striking out a season-high eight batters.
“It’s a great way to come out of the AllStar break and set the tone for us when our ace goes out and gives up one run for the six innings,” manager Aaron Boone said.
“I thought he did great in Baltimore, and then more good tonight.”
It was the second consecutive strong start for the reigning AL Cy Young winner, who had his best start since coming off the injured list last Friday in Baltimore, allowing just one run over a season-high six innings while throwing 106 pitches.
In his last two games, he’s boasting an impressive 1.50 ERA.
“I thought his slider was really good, the cutters the last two years now, especially the second half of last season and now into this season have just become a good, reliable pitch for him,” Boone said. “I thought he had good four-seam action, you know, mixed in a few changeups there.”
Since returning from an elbow injury, Cole has struck out 34 batters across 29 innings of work, posting a 4.60 ERA.
Despite a pitch-clock violation in the second inning — where he didn’t throw his final warm-up pitch until after there were 20 seconds left on the clock — he maintained his composure throughout the outing.
“To be honest, I don’t really think I gave him [home plate umpire Quinn Wolcott] the chance to talk,” Cole said of the call. “I didn’t agree with it, and I didn’t lose my composure.
“I’m thankful he kept me in the game.” On a quest to reclaim first place in the AL East, the Yankees will need their ace to provide inning and help out their bullpen in their second-half redemption run.
“We got a lot of baseball ahead of us,” Cole said. “It always feels good to get started off on a good foot so we wanted to come on and set the tone.”