Gerrit Cole overcomes strange situation in successful Yankees debut
In a year already overflowing with the unexpected, Gerrit Cole surprised himself during an extraordinary Opening Night at Nationals Park.
Cole’s Yankees debut was sandwiched between a pregame display of unity, with both teams taking a knee together before the national anthem, and a drenching thunderstorm that halted play in the sixth inning.
This all took place in an empty stadium, of course. But despite a ballpark nearly devoid of energy, Cole had to control an early adrenaline surge for a strong finish to his five-inning stint, allowing only a homer by Adam Eaton in the first inning in the Yankees’ rain-shortened 4-1 victory over the Nationals.
Afterward, Cole recalled speaking to his wife, Amy, about what happened. “I can’t believe I’m going to get a complete-game one-hitter in my debut,” he told her.
And yet that’s exactly what happened. Sort of. Cole needed only 75 pitches (46 strikes) to go the distance, striking out five with one walk. After drilling Thames on the foot to open the second inning, he retired 10 straight, walked Asdrubal Cabrera, then whiffed his final two batters.
With his command finally back, Cole was looking forward to the sixth inning, but he never got the chance as the game was called after a 1-hour, 58-minute delay. Still, he extended his winning streak to 17-0 with a 1.78 ERA in his last 23 starts dating to May 27 of last year. He also broke a tie with the Nationals’ Stephen Strasburg and now has the ninth-longest streak in baseball history.
“Every time I’ve had the opportunity to catch him, it's just impressive,” Gary Sanchez said through his interpreter. “It's impressive to see how easy he makes my job, how he's always attacking hitters. He has that 'it,' you know?”
The “it” factor Sanchez referred to is the reason why the Yankees gave Cole that nine-year, $324 million deal in December. And Thursday night was an abbreviated peek into what should be a brilliant future in the Bronx.
Eaton’s homer was an obvious case of Cole just trying to settle down. His seventh pitch of the at-bat was a 98-mph fastball that split the plate, roughly belt-high, and Eaton demolished it.
Later, Cole acknowledged he had to simmer down.
“I started to become aware of it warming up, so I had a little bit of time to try to ponder it a little bit,” he said. “I didn't expect it quite in warmups. But then again, in a sense, it was logical, right? There's no buzz around the ballpark coming into the field, so you don't see a lot of people. You're certainly not hearing a whole stadium. And then all of a sudden, this switch is gonna come on.
“There is no build-up to it. It's just dead silence. I guess it makes sense logically. I'm glad it happened in warmups. I felt like I was able to try to harness it a little bit as we worked through the game, and Gary did his homework. He led us through some uncertain times.”
If that’s what qualifies as a struggle for Cole, the Yankees will gladly take it. And now the strangeness, the bizarre feel of the first time, is over for Cole. The next start should be more routine, at least as much as these pandemic-altered conditions will allow.
Not that Cole couldn’t make the necessary adjustments Thursday night. The kid who famously grew up a Yankees fan finally got to fulfill a dream.
“It was a lot of fun,” Cole said. “No one could have envisioned the type of year that we're having this year. But within those parameters, it exceeded everything. I just had a blast.”
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
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