Gerrit Cole looked visibly upset in the dugout while Billy Crystal was getting ready to throw out the first pitch before the Yankees’ season opener, and looked rattled in a first inning where he surrendered a 3-0 lead four batters in without recording an out.
Cole tried to downplay that question of the ceremonial first pitch affecting him as much as he could after the Yankees’ eventual 6-5 11-inning win, but did confirm he was thrown off a little by the delay.
“That was an unforeseen challenge,” Cole said. “The festivities got a little away from the schedule.”
First pitch was scheduled for 1:08 p.m., and actually came at 1:12 – but in those four minutes in between, while Crystal was finishing the on-field ceremonies with the first pitch, Cole was seen in the dugout, seemingly upset with how the festivities were unfolding:
When asked point blank if he was upset because of a strict regimen being broken, Cole was almost as evasive as he was last year when asked about Spider-Tack.
"I don't know. My schedule’s not down to the minute, but…” he said, as he trailed off.
He later had this to say about the four-pitch walk that started the game, and how it ended up:
“Obviously the first four pitches were not really competitive, but fortunately we were able to settle in after that and give us a chance to win.”
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Indeed, Cole’s first four pitches walked leadoff hitter Kike Hernandez, his seventh was smacked by Rafael Devers for a two-run homer that made it 2-0, and by the time he recorded his first out on the 17th pitch, the Red Sox had a runner on second and a 3-0 lead.
But Cole allowed just one hit and one hit batter (which was erased on a double play) over the four innings he pitched after J.D. Martinez’s RBI double, and all was well that ended well, as the Yankees pulled off a 6-5 walk-off win.
And no, Crystal did not get an at-bat, like he did in a spring training game on his 60th birthday, but that certainly would’ve been a possibility on a day where the Yankees exhausted their entire bench!
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