Yankees' Gerrit Cole outduels Atlanta's Chris Sale, George Lombard Jr. and Ben Rice homer in win
Yankees' Gerrit Cole pitches during the first inning against Atlanta at Yankee Stadium on Saturday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Gerrit Cole struck out nine in seven innings and outdueled Chris Sale in a matchup of Cy Young Award winners as the Yankees beat Atlanta, 5-4, on Saturday at Yankee Stadium.
After Spencer Jones delivered a run-scoring single in the second and an RBI triple in the fifth — he then scored the tiebreaking run on a balk by Sale — George Lombard Jr. hit his second career homer in the seventh to give the Yankees a 4-2 lead.
The shortstop, who homered in his MLB debut Tuesday, also drew a walk in the fifth after consecutive successful ABS challenges and scored the tying run on Jones’ first career triple.
With Jones on third, Sale was called for a run-scoring balk by plate umpire Dan Merzel. As he began to throw the first pitch to Austin Wells, he was called for his third career balk for having a slight hitch in his right leg.
“Sale declared the hitter before that he was going out of the windup,” said Atlanta manager Walt Weiss, who was ejected. “He said he did not declare after that. He’s never done that in his career, so it’s a terrible call. I always try to show the umpires respect, and they know that, but you can’t make that call right there.”
“Chris Sale failed to declare that he was going to pitch out of the windup for the second batter, and he’s required by rule to make that declaration as a hybrid pitcher,” crew chief Dan Bellino told a pool reporter.
Bellino said pitchers who throw from the traditional windup are not required to make that declaration. “Hybrid pitchers are held to a different standard because you can’t tell what they are based on their foot placement at the start,” he said. “It needs to be very clear. It’s not something that we can assume.”
Ronald Acuna Jr. homered off Brent Headrick in the eighth before Paul Blackburn retired Ozzie Albies to end the inning.
Ben Rice hit his 32nd homer in the bottom of the inning to give the Yankees a 5-3 lead. David Bednar allowed an RBI single by Dominic Smith in the ninth.
Cole (6-5, 3.35 ERA) allowed two runs and four of his six hits in the fifth as Atlanta (70-47) took a 2-1 lead. Mike Yastrzemski had an RBI double and Jim Jarvis added a run-scoring single.
In his past three starts, Cole has a 1.45 ERA and a 1.02 WHIP with 21 strikeouts in 18 2⁄3 innings.
Not including a poor start by Cam Schlittler, Yankees starters have a 1.17 ERA and 0.86 WHIP (65 strikeouts, 39 hits, 14 walks, 61 2⁄3 innings) since July 28.
Cole, the 2023 AL Cy Young Award winner, became the 13th Yankee to reach 1,000 career strikeouts. Sale, the 2024 NL Cy Young Award winner, is 0-3 in three matchups with Cole.
The Yankees (66-51) remained 4 1⁄2 games behind AL East-leading Tampa Bay and moved 1 1⁄2 games ahead of Boston.
More Yankees headlines
