Yankees' Gerrit Cole knows he has to make some adjustments after allowing 7 homers in two games

Gerrit Cole had made the wrong kind of history in his previous start last Sunday in San Diego.

That afternoon against the Padres, the righthander became the first pitcher in MLB history to twice allow back-to-back-to-back home runs to the first three batters of a game.

Cole’s follow-up outing to that 4-3 loss to the Padres, a game in which he allowed four homers, wasn’t much better.

It was, in fact, much worse.

Cole didn’t allow three straight homers to start Saturday’s 12-2 loss to the Mets, though Francisco Lindor did hit one on his third pitch of the game. He did allow three more homers, though, and when Carson Benge hit the third one, it meant he had allowed seven homers in a span of 9 1/3 innings.

Cole allowed five runs and nine hits, both of which tied his season highs, in 4 1/3 innings.

After his shortest outing of the season since lasting 4 1/3 innings in Detroit on June 22, Cole talked openly about searching for answers for why he is getting significantly less swing-and-miss with his stuff, especially what typically is a devastating high-90s fastball that has been far less devastating of late.

“I think it’s something we’ve gotta figure out for sure,” said Cole, who struck out only four in falling to 8-9 with 3.67 ERA. “It’s just one of those times in the season where you have to start making adjustments. Sometimes adjustments are hard, but that’s the demand of the game, right? You’ve got to find a way to get through it.”

Cole, who missed all of last season while recovering from the Tommy John surgery he underwent in March 2025 and did not make his 2026 debut until May 22, said it is “a fair question” to speculate if his recent struggles are the product of the procedure. Many pitchers who have Tommy John surgery say they don't truly feel like their pre-surgery selves until their second season back.

“Hard for me to pin it on one thing,” Cole said. “Because, again, at a certain point, starting pitchers throughout the year need to make an adjustment. It’s a long season. Hitters are good, offenses are good. High-stakes games with good offenses, sometimes they teach you lessons. Like today.”

Cole said it is not just an issue with his fastball.

“The stuff isn’t just performing like I think you would expect it to perform,” he said. “So there’s something there that we need to figure out.”

Cole, who said he feels “great” physically, said he isn’t concerned and that he indeed will “figure it out.”

Does he know what those adjustments specifically are that he has to make?

“Not necessarily,” he said.

Asked his level of “concern” that he won’t be able to figure it out, the 2023 American League Cy Young Award winner said: “It’s a tough game, man. You’ve got to make hard adjustments. That’s why it’s the big leagues.”

Manager Aaron Boone isn’t concerned.

“I think part of it is the product of being in the strike zone as much as he is,” Boone said of Cole not getting as much swing-and-miss as usual. “I feel like the stuff is there . . . It’s just that last layer of execution, and that’s the fine line between getting hit a little bit [and not].

"Look, he’s having a great year. He got roughed up, obviously, today, but that’s just that fine line between that last layer of execution, and you’ve got a hot team in here that’s swinging the bats well and they hit him around a little bit.”

Rookie Spencer Jones isn't worried about his teammate.

“I mean, if there’s anybody who can bounce back and know what to do, it’s going to be that guy,” Jones said. “He’s as smart and professional as any pitcher in the game. He’s going to be just fine.”

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

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.