Gerrit Cole handles Rays, DJ LeMahieu homers twice to lift Yankees

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — There was much to quibble with from Brian Cashman’s news conference on Wednesday, primarily his defensiveness regarding the Yankees’ analytics department.

But in addition to his use of the word “disaster” in describing the 2023 season, the longtime general manager hit one thing on the head.

“The fight is there. The care is there. The intent is there,” he said. “Being a part of this organization for quite some time, I do know the difference.”

That was on display Friday.

Behind a two-homer night by DJ LeMahieu and an exceptional outing by Gerrit Cole, who quickly put his chase for the American League Cy Young Award back on track, the Yankees kicked off a three-city, 10-game trip by beating the Rays, 6-2, in front of 22,679 at Tropicana Field.

The Yankees (62-66), who also got an RBI double by Gleyber Torres and a two-run double by Giancarlo Stanton to highlight a three-run seventh that gave them a rare cushion, outhit the Rays 11-4.

Cole (11-4, 3.00), who allowed a season-worst six earned runs in four innings in his previous start against the Red Sox, gave up two runs (one earned) and three hits in 7 2⁄3 innings in which he did not walk a batter and struck out 11, tying his season high.

“As good a year as he’s had, that might be right up there with as good as he’s been,” Aaron Boone said. “The fastball was so good.”

Of Cole’s Cy Young candidacy, Boone said: “He’s having that kind of season.”

Cole allowed two or fewer runs for the 20th time this season, the most in the majors. Jonathan Loaisiga replaced him with two outs in the eighth and allowed an inherited runner to score an unearned run that was charged to Cole and made it 6-2.

Cole said he made some “mechanical” tweaks from his last start — helped by pitching coach Matt Blake, Yankees director of pitching Sam Briend and from “a friend of mine” Cole declined to name other than to say he’s a “future Hall of Famer” (former Astros teammate Justin Verlander immediately comes to mind).

“You try to learn from it, try to figure out what went wrong,” Cole said. “That motivation gets you back in the weight room, sparks your curiosity on how you can improve. Then it’s a flush, then it’s thinking about what is Tampa going to throw at me?”

Not much on this night as Cole shut down a Rays team that fell three games behind the AL East-leading Orioles. Cole, who finished a close second to Verlander in the AL Cy Young voting in 2019 when both were Astros, acknowledged that winning the award for the first time in what has been a distinguished career “would be unbelievable,” but it is not a primary focus.

“I don’t want to get distracted,” he said. “It’s not something I’ve ever thought about through my whole career, so I’m just sticking with what I’ve done in the past.”

Rays righthander Zach Eflin, who came in 13-7 with a 3.58 ERA, allowed two runs and seven hits in six innings. He walked one and struck out 11 as the Rays dropped to 78-52.

LeMahieu homered off Eflin in the fifth to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead and went deep off sidearmer Trevor Kelley in the eighth to make it 6-1. That gave him 11 home runs this season, three coming this week.

LeMahieu, who struggled horribly in the season’s first half, is 35-for-118 (.297) with an .856 OPS in his last 35 games. He credited new hitting coach Sean Casey, who hit .302 in his 12-year career in the big leagues, with his rebirth at the plate.

“I relate to him really well,” said LeMahieu, a two-time batting champion. “Just great, positive energy, a great guy and a good guy to talk hitting with. He was a really good hitter himself. I just enjoy talking the game with him . . . just talking the game, it’s been a help.”   

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.