For Gerrit Cole, one mistake is one too many
Gerrit Cole of the New York Yankees throws to first base during the sixth inning against the Rangers in the first game of a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium on Sunday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
You could hear the irritation in Gerrit Cole’s voice even before he showed up in the interview room between games of Sunday’s doubleheader.
The door opened, and somewhere behind the stage, out of view, Cole was loudly muttering about the fastball the Rangers’ Kole Calhoun had drilled 355 feet, a dozen rows deep into the rightfield stands, just inside the foul pole.
Never mind that Calhoun’s solo shot had been hit roughly an hour earlier, tying the score in the seventh inning, or that Gleyber Torres soon negated the impact with a walk-off homer to lead off the ninth in the Yankees’ 2-1 win over the Rangers in Game 1 (Texas took Game 2, 4-2).
No, Cole wasn’t quite over it yet. And the walk from the clubhouse didn’t do much to cool him off.
Despite already throwing a season-high 105 pitches, Cole had talked his way into returning for the seventh to protect the Yankees’ 1-0 lead. But after whiffing Mitch Garver and with the count full, Cole threw a 99-mph four-seam fastball that Calhoun destroyed to knock him out of the game.
“I just don’t want to walk him there,” Cole said, still agitated. “I also don’t want to give up a homer. I’ve had a lot of good battles with him dating all the way back to the Pac-12. And I got beat, but . . . a lot of good today.”
The chilly, windy Bronx was a long way from Cole’s sunnier days pitching for UCLA — Calhoun mashed for conference rival Arizona State — and the Yankees’ restored ace could take some solace in the fact that Sunday’s college flashback ultimately didn’t result in an L.
Cole struck out a season-high 10 and threw 114 pitches for only the seventh time in 240 career starts. But his annoyance was understandable. Before that Calhoun homer, Cole was working on a streak of 18 2/3 scoreless innings — the third longest of his career — stretched over three starts, more reflective of a pitcher with a $324 million contract. He has a 0.47 ERA during that span, with four walks and 25 strikeouts.
Compare that with his first three starts this season, amid all the noise of Spider Tack withdrawal, when Cole stumbled to a 6.35 ERA with seven walks and 12 strikeouts.
“You knew it was a matter of time,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Even in the first few, there were a lot of good things in there that were bubbling, and it’s good to see this come out now.”
On Sunday, Cole also did what a team’s No. 1 is supposed to do — gobble up as much of a doubleheader as possible. After grinding through 47 pitches in the first two innings alone, Cole tightened up to need only 58 though the next four. By then, after striking out Nathaniel Lowe to end the sixth, it was reasonable to assume Cole was done.
In his previous five starts, Cole never exceeded 92 pitches and went beyond 90 only twice. But with the Yankees having to cover 18 innings Sunday — and looking at 23 games in 22 days — Cole knew it was time to step up. Given the circumstances, Boone was willing to oblige.
“Sometimes I’ll just say I’m making a move,” he said. “He was pretty adamant about [saying], ‘No, I’m comfortable.’ And he’s usually very good at explaining where he’s at or how he’s feeling. I think based off the way he was throwing the ball in the sixth inning, where I thought he was in cruise mode . . . I felt like even still at the end, he was very sharp.”
The mistake wasn’t sending out Cole for the seventh. There was nothing to suggest he’d be in trouble after retiring 14 of the last 16 Rangers, the only two reaching on a walk and infield single. Cole just put that fastball to Calhoun in a dangerous spot, even if it still was buzzing at 99 mph.
The pitch that Cole found most difficult to harness, however, was his cutter — the same one that has sparked his revival — but that was primarily because of the strong gusts swirling through the ballpark.
“I just couldn’t really get it to go left through the wind,” Cole said. “On the flip side, it was kind of helping the fastball. The crosswind was kind of blowing it up and away.”
Cole’s average fastball velocity of 98.2 mph was his fastest of the season, according to baseballsavant.com, with a max of 100.6 for Sunday. Overall, he got 26 swings and misses (14 on the fastball).
No wonder Cole felt confident pushing into the seventh inning for only the second time this season, and the Yankees are going to need plenty more of that with this exhausting road ahead.
Of all the encouraging signs from the Yankees' 19-7 start, Cole turning down the volume on the crisis chatter around him is right up there on the list. That didn’t stop him from airing his own frustration Sunday — all of it directed at himself — but that should subside before too long.
“We did our job today,” Cole said.
Unlike their ace, the Yankees were thrilled.
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.
