Yankees ace Gerrit Cole 'about as frustrated as you can get' after Game 3 loss

After another Yankees loss, Gerrit Cole was at a loss.

He said he made only 2 1⁄2 mistakes on the 96 pitches he threw Saturday, but he ended up with an awfully ugly line anyway — five innings-plus, five runs allowed, three earned — in the Astros’ 5-0 ALCS Game 3 victory.

There were the obvious moments, such as Chas McCormick’s two-run homer in the second and Christian Vazquez’s two-run single off Lou Trivino in the sixth to bring in the rest of the runners Cole left on base. But what seemed to bother the ace the most afterward were several other at-bats that ended in what he felt were good pitches.

“We threw consecutive pitches on the edge all night, and they put really good, convicted swings on pitcher’s pitches,” Cole said, describing himself as “about as frustrated as you can get” after the Yankees fell behind 3-0 in the best-of-seven ALCS.

“And they obviously had a little bit of luck go their way.”

Off the top of his head, Cole rattled off several examples, crediting Astros hitters for being excellent.

“[Alex] Bregman had a fantastic night, hit a 100-mph fastball that split the corner for a base hit; took a slider three, four inches underneath the zone, lofted it to leftfield, gave himself a good chance to get a hit, and capitalized on a mistake changeup,” Cole said.

“[Jeremy] Pena was able to move the runner from second base to third base on a slider that was outside of the strike zone . . . [Jose] Altuve, another example, four inches outside of the plate, looking for an expand slider, executed the best we can, dumps it into rightfield for a double. Split the corner to [Trey] Mancini on a 97-mph fastball, first pitch, flies out to the warning track.

“These are good pitches. These are pitcher’s pitches. And they’re putting good swings on them regardless of whether they’re over the heart of the plate or not. And top to bottom, that’s what they did all night.”

Cole had a fine-looking outing into the sixth — five innings, two runs, neither earned — but allowed the first three batters to reach: Bregman double, Kyle Tucker walk, Yuli Gurriel single. With the bases loaded and nobody out, manager Aaron Boone turned to Trivino.

That left Cole unhappy, because he felt he had more to give. Boone hesitated in pulling Cole, thinking that the Yankees’ single-season strikeout record-holder might be able to get one there. But he opted for Trivino, looking for a double-play grounder.

Instead, the reliever allowed all three inherited runners to score on Mancini’s sacrifice fly and Vazquez’s single.

Said Cole, “I was just not ready to come out.”

By Tim Healey

timothy.healey@newsday.com@timbhealey

Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.