It was win or go home for the Yankees and the bullpen was perhaps a little compromised in a third game in three days (with hope for a fourth Monday) – but nothing changed for Gerrit Cole, who threw seven innings of two-run ball in the most important game of the season.
“When they told me I was going in Game 4, there was going to be an opportunity to clinch or the chance of going home, but I didn’t approach it any differently,” Cole said moments after the Yankees’ 4-2 win forced a Game 5. “I just went out and did my job.”
Cole had thrown 6 1/3 innings in Game 1 and worked out of trouble a bit in one inning that game, but he got a little more help behind him to get through the seventh this time.
“I thought defensively, being heads up in the inning where they were scrambling and Ramirez got (tagged out), to be able to shut that down was big,” Cole said. “Kept the pitch count in check, and overall, my stuff was good, but we executed a lot of good pitches and mixed well enough to get away with a couple mistakes. I had the lead, and I was just focused on executing and not giving it up.”
“His ability to mix, he used everything again tonight. I thought he was very much under control, you know, commanded his emotions well early on if he executed a pitch, and if he didn't – I think the first three innings had the leadoff guy on base and didn't really flinch,” manager Aaron Boone added. “He just kept making pitches all night long, and I thought was just really in command of the moment. It was obviously a huge start for us and for him, and to get us that deep in the game set us up real nice.”
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Cole didn’t have to do much differently in preparation, either, as despite facing the Guardians for the second time this week, they only made one change.
“Just prepared for (Gabriel) Arias, and kept the ball rolling on the guys we had faced earlier. Just approached it as if they’re continuous at-bats,” Cole said.
There were mound visits on continuous at-bats in the seventh, but Cole navigated it as he emptied the tank and struck out Arias and Will Brennan back-to-back as they represented the tying run, even as Boone thought he might be running out of gas,
“I try to do that every time I pitch. Whether he lets me or not is another story,” Cole smiled. “The consecutive mound visits was to slow down a bit, and a little extra time for recovery. (The stakes) weren’t in my mind at all. Plus you have a pretty good bunch of guys behind me to back me up if I didn't execute.”
“(Slowing things down) is something that he actually does a lot. I just felt he did a really good job of handling it all and not being affected by anything that went on in the game,” Boone added. “Good, bad, or indifferent, he just kept slowing himself down, making sure he executed. Obviously emptied the tank, you saw some emotion there at the end. Just a huge, big-time performance in this environment and to get us back home.”
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Boone admitted that if Cole had lost Arias, Brennan would've been his last hitter, and he likely would've gone to Clay Holmes had Brennan gotten on with two outs - but Cole was able to push through and set up the end.
“It lined up pretty well for us tonight. You start looking back, and it’s like, man, every little out that sets up somebody in a little bit better position moving forward is always big," Boone said. "Him getting that last out was huge because that was it right there. It kind of set up pretty well for us tonight and really thanks to Gerrit finishing off Brennan there.”
Indeed, Cole got them through the chance to go home and got them home, for a winner-take-all, all hands on deck Game 5 Monday night in New York – where Cole will likely be the only arm not available as Jameson Taillon makes his first start of the postseason.
“We have to get the job done as a team and we did that tonight. I just went out there and approached it like I would approach everything else,” Cole said. “Tomorrow, (Taillon has to) just go out and do what he did to clinch the division against Toronto. That was some good stuff.”
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
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