Yankees fans can pitch some kudos in Brian Cashman's direction

When it comes to the Yankees’ rotation, Brian Cashman deserves an apology.

We’ll probably find a few other reasons to rip him sooner or later, but the general manager deserves a pass (and maybe even a round of applause) for assembling this current group of starters, including a core four that accomplished something in Saturday’s 7-0 victory over the White Sox that this franchise hadn’t done since 1932.

Hold on to that thought for a minute. First, a show of hands from those who had faith in this cobbled-together rotation beyond Gerrit Cole.

Right. Zero. Same here.

For a while, it appeared as if Cashman got a little too cute in gambling on a pair of reclamation projects and his own high-ceiling youngsters.

But no longer. Not after Corey Kluber looked like a guy with two Cy Young Awards on his mantel while throwing Wednesday’s no-hitter against Texas, followed by Domingo German’s masterful matinee Thursday and Jordan Montgomery’s 11-strikeout gem Friday night in the Bronx.

Combine that with Cole’s silencing of the Sox and the Yankees have strung together four consecutive starts of at least seven scoreless innings for only the second time in franchise history. The other was 89 years ago, delivered by Johnny Allen, George Pipgras, Red Ruffing and Lefty Gomez.

"They’ve been terrific," manager Aaron Boone said of his 2021 crew, not the Gomez gang. "Obviously, this run they’re on right now is really impressive, but I think it goes back further for the better part of the month. They've been really solid and strong and tone-setters for the whole team."

You can slice up and serve numbers to say almost anything you want. But when a rotation is doing something for the first time in nearly a century, for a club that has 27 championships, it obviously carries some significance.

None of the subsequent Yankee dynasties pulled off such a feat. We’re not saying this group is destined for greatness, but it’s performing well above most of the expectations outside of Cashman’s office door.

And one amusing side note: Cole’s outing Saturday was arguably the worst of the four. But that’s like ranking Picassos. We picked on Cole only because of his three walks in seven innings, a stunningly uncharacteristic total that was more than the other three starters combined.

Cole set an MLB record last week by making it to 61 straight strikeouts without a walk. His last free pass had been issued on April 12, more than a month and six starts earlier.

On Saturday, however, Cole somehow walked two in the third inning and another in the fourth — three in six batters after only five total in his previous nine starts.

So what happened? That probably had more to do with plate umpire Todd Tichenor’s strike zone than any glitch in Cole’s operating system. While he admitted to a bit of an adjustment process early on, Cole also believed Tichenor’s amoeba-like zone forced him and catcher Kyle Higashioka to pick their spots.

"I just think when we were making a good pitch, it seemed to not go our way, we didn’t get a [swing] on it, or it was a smidge off the corner," said Cole, who trimmed his ERA to 1.81. "And then there were some rather large misses there."

Cole and Higashioka eventually found their rhythm, and he retired 11 of the next 13 after that third walk through the seventh inning. Cole was touched for just four singles and the Yankees turned four double plays behind him to erase any of those threats.

The White Sox put only one runner in scoring position, and that was because Rougned Odor had Gio Urshela’s throw clang off the heel of his glove for an error on what would have been a fifth DP in the seventh.

The Yankees scored only five runs combined for Cole in his previous three starts, as compared to seven on Saturday alone. The starters haven’t allowed a run in 30 consecutive innings, and the staff as a whole leads MLB with eight shutouts, only the fourth time in franchise history the Yankees have compiled that many in the season’s first 46 games (1910, ’55 and ’58 were the others).

No one would have predicted the Yankees’ rotation to have the second-best ERA (3.38) in the American League, and they’ve stayed healthy through the first seven weeks, too.

Next up is Jameson Taillon, the weakest link (5.73 ERA) to date, and he’ll get the chance to extend the rotation’s streak in Sunday’s series finale. Taillon is coming back from a second Tommy John surgery, so his hill has been harder to climb, but the other starters seem capable of carrying him in the meantime.

Will Taillon join the party? "He’s already in the party," Cole said. "He’s been giving us some meaningful innings."

The Yankees are going to need more of those from Taillon. Otherwise, Cashman still has Luis Severino on the way and two months until the trade deadline. The heat he once took for the rotation can go on the back burner for now.

By David Lennon

dave.lennon@newsday.comDPLennon

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.