Gerrit Cole doing OK after injury but 'next 24, 48 hours' is key
Yankees starting pitcher Gerrit Cole in the dugout after leaving the game during the fourth inning against the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. Credit: Noah K. Murray
Less than a day later, it still was too soon to say the Yankees could breathe a sigh of relief when it comes to Gerrit Cole.
But Wednesday didn’t bring any jarring news when it came to the ace — forced from Tuesday night's start with tightness in his left hamstring — which at the moment can be seen a positive because, from the Yankees’ standpoint, it beats the alternative.
"He’s doing pretty well today," Aaron Boone said Wednesday before the Yankees lost to the Blue Jays, 6-3. "Went through some testing and that went well. I know he’s getting ready to jump on the treadmill now, so I think he’s encouraged."
The Yankees do not think Cole needs to undergo an MRI, but Boone said it has not been determined whether he will be able to make his next start Sunday or Monday.
"The next 24, 48 hours is going to determine where we move and how he responds [to treatment]," Boone said. "But I think he was encouraged by how he felt coming in here."
After Tuesday’s 5-1 loss to Toronto, Cole described what he felt before signaling to the Yankees’ dugout to take him out.
"There were a couple pitches at the end where I got through the finish and I maybe just overextended a leg or I had a little bit of a cramp or a tightness kind of feeling in there," Cole said. "And then I was just in a spot where you continue to try to make pitches in a [high] leverage situation and [you] just keep pulling on it. And it's not really getting worse, but you're only one pitch away from making it worse."
Cole continued: "It's one of those things where you go through this kind of stuff over the course of your career yearly. These kind of things pop up, and hopefully we’re able to recover well so that we don't have to miss a start. That’s certainly the hope of saying something early enough and not grinding through [and possibly doing more damage]."
Cole, who allowed three runs (two earned), five hits and two walks in 3 2/3 innings in which he struck out two, is 14-7 with a 2.78 ERA this season.
The righthander, while fully aware of the calendar and the importance of every game down the stretch, also won’t rush himself.
Making sure Cole is as close to 100% as possible for the American League wild-card game Oct. 5 should become the priority over the next several weeks. The Yankees’ play of late — they have lost nine of their last 11 games to fall 9 ½ games behind the AL East-leading Rays — has all but doomed their division title hopes.
"I'm going to be smart about it," said Cole, who threw 70 pitches Tuesday. "One-hundred percent? I don’t know how many times you feel 100% during the course of the year, maybe April 1 sometimes, depending on how rough spring was, but I'm going to definitely be as smart about it as I can and trust my instincts. My instincts helped me out [Tuesday], being able to be able to walk normally, being able to at least get through some pitches. So I'm just going to trust the staff we have here, trust my instincts and rely on what I've done before and hopefully be able to make the next one [start]. I mean, it's not impossible. We'll see how it shakes out, but definitely remembering the importance [of not rushing] for sure."
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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