Gerrit Cole stabilized a bit on Sunday.
After missing his spot in the rotation with what was termed as “body fatigue,” the reigning AL Cy Young winner made his return to the mound and put together a solid outing to help the Yankees in their rain-delayed, 10-inning, 4-3 win against the Blue Jays in The Bronx.
Cole finished with six hits allowed, two earned runs and four strikeouts in 5 ²/₃ innings pitched.
“It was a good position to make pitches all day, and then I kind of started to gain some momentum and steam as the game started rolling,” said Cole, who assured that he felt good during and after his outing. “So, you know, those are good markers for that.”
There was some apparent discomfort early on.
In addition to holding the top of his shoulder and raising his arm at one point, Cole gave up hits to six of the first 11 batters he faced.
As his breaking stuff improved, however, he only allowed two baserunners (one hit by pitch) after the second inning.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said before the game he would probably be conservative with his usage of Cole.
“I think it starts with his fastball,” Boone said after the game. “They did a good job. They had some solid contact on his fastball, but I thought all day long he had a good fastball, good profile of it, and I thought he got really settled in as he went.”
It was the first time Cole was back on the mound since he was lit up by the Mets, for the second time this season, in the Subway Series on July 24.
After he gave up eight hits, two earned runs and two walks in the 12-3 loss, Cole expressed his frustrations as his ERA ballooned to 5.40.
The 2024 season hasn’t gone according to plan for Cole, who was shut down in spring training and eventually missed the first 2½ months of the season with nerve inflammation and edema in his throwing elbow.
So when the Yankees scratched their ace ahead of his scheduled outing last week, after just seven starts, there were understandable concerns for the 33-year-old’s health.
Cole said he didn’t bounce back well from his dud against the Mets, which is what prompted the Yankees to hand the ball to Will Warren for his MLB debut in Philadelphia.
The fatigue was said to be unrelated to the elbow inflammation he experienced earlier in the season, and no tests were conducted.
“It’s nothing really specific,’’ Cole said at the time, adding that it’s still early in the season for him compared to everybody else. “I’m a bit run down.”
It sure looked like Cole trudged through the 5 ²/₃ innings on Sunday, but the body of work was strong.
Toronto managed to open the scoring in the second inning after Alejandro Kirk got things started by smacking a double to the warning track.
Addison Barger then roped a double of his own to bring in Kirk before Davis Schneider and Luis De Los Santos both singled to set up Ernie Clement for an RBI single and the 2-0 lead.
Just before he was replaced by Luke Weaver in the top of the sixth, Cole produced a fly out from Spencer Horwitz before striking out Daulton Varsho, who went down looking.
He ultimately threw 60 strikes on 91 total pitches.
