Win or lose, Gerrit Cole's attitude is the right stuff for the Yankees
Yankees starting pitcher Gerrit Cole runs to the dugout after making an out against the Rays at first base during an MLB game at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Gerrit Cole’s eyes narrowed. He shook his head in annoyance and his mouth formed one stern, fine line. He angrily muttered a few words, not all of them fit for print.
This is what the Yankees wanted when they got their $324 million man – this angry, brooding competitor asking how or why Aaron Boone would have the temerity to take him out of the game in the seventh inning, 109 pitches in. After it was over, and after the Yankees had lost 4-2 to the Rays, the anger still radiated off of him in palpable waves. Cole trailed off twice when asked about being taken out, he insisted still that he should’ve been allowed the opportunity. The reaction is so much starker because of how we usually see Cole: calm, affable, polite.
“Whatever I said to (Boone) in my glove, I’ll leave it at that,” he said, glowering.
Added Boone: “That’s really the first time I’ve taken him out where he was a little upset…That’s the competitor in him. He’s the ace. He wants the ball.”
But in a lot of ways, a little bit of edge is a lot of what the Yankees need right now, as the Rays look more and more like an impenetrable hurdle. They’ve played them six times this season, and lost five, and are now only a half game ahead of them in the American League East. As for Cole, he struck out 10 on Wednesday, making it his 37th career double-digit strikeout game. He came out with two outs in the seventh, and to hear him speak, he didn’t just want to finish the inning, he wanted to finish the game (yeah, not in this decade’s MLB).
He ended up pitching 6 2/3 innings, allowing six hits, the two earned runs and a walk.
“He’s a guy where, if he had it his game, he would throw 140, 150 pitches,” Brett Gardner said. “He wants to finish the game.”
Cole made just two mistakes – a 87 mph changeup to Ji-Man Choi in the second and an absolute meatball to the light-hitting Mike Zunino in the third. Both were deposited in the stands for solo home runs, and together, they temporarily put an impressive streak in jeopardy. Going into Wednesday, Cole had registered a victory in 20 straight decisions, but with Yankees hitters struggling to solve Tyler Glasnow, Cole pitched with a deficit from the second to sixth inning.
After the Yankees tied it up in the sixth, though, Boone was already telling Cole his night was close to over. He had 99 pitches going into the seventh, but Cole fought to stay in. And after facing three hitters in the seventh, Boone didn’t give him a chance to fight his case. Zack Britton was coming in to face the lefty Austin Meadows (the move worked out, since Meadows struck out swinging, but Britton fell apart in the eighth, losing the game). Boone made the call to the bullpen before even approaching the mound, Cole said.
“There was a question if I was good enough to go back out for the seventh and the answer was yes,” Cole said. “I’m just going to keep it as (saying) less (about this) is more. I wanted to finish the game. I think the body of work over the last day and over the last start speaks for itself.”
And, let’s face it, the Yankees will need that level of competition and more to keep up their impressive start. Outside of Cole, their starting pitching has been a disappointment. The Rays are a strong team, and though some of the pressure is off because of the expanded playoffs, these next few weeks will still be a test of this team’s mettle. Giancarlo Stanton, with his hamstring injury, isn’t expected back for another three to four weeks. DJ LeMahieu’s injury deletes a .411 batting average out of the Yankees lineup. Aaron Judge, expected back Saturday, provides the pop that the Yankees were sorely missing on Wednesday, as they struggled to get anything going. Other than Luke Voit’s second-deck home run in the third, they placed only one man in scoring position up until the sixth inning.
“I was in a good position to finish it,” Cole insisted. Getting taken out in that circumstance, “It’s not the easiest thing, so…”
That’s one of the times he trailed off after the game. Still stewing. Still brooding. Still convinced he could get the next out, and the next out, and the one after that.
And maybe that wasn’t a pleasant experience for Boone, but the Yankees sure could use plenty more of that edge in the days and weeks to come.
Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.
