Gerrit Cole’s 2021 spring training debut wasn’t his cleanest effort, but at this point in the young season, the Yankee ace was happy just to walk away healthy.
“I was comfortable out there, just tried to settle into some pitches and make some good pitches,” Cole said after Monday’s 5-4 win over the Tigers. “I came out of it feeling good, so I accomplished those things and would like to clean the line up for the next outing.”
Cole threw 28 pitches in a shaky first inning that included 15 strikes and 13 balls, but while he struggled with his command at times, he was able to strand the bases loaded and allow just one run on three hits. He also walked and struck out one each.
“You want to come out of here feeling healthy and having thrown all your pitches,” Cole said. “There’s always something to work on when you take the mound. We’ll look to improve on where we started from to say going forward. But in terms of the shape of the pitches and the velocity, especially relative to the effort, it was a pretty good start from that standpoint.”
Cole’s fastball topped out at 99.5 mph, and while he struggled to locate his breaking ball at times, Gary Sanchez was there to block each one. It was the battery’s first time working together since Aug. 31, before Kyle Higashioka became Cole’s personal catcher. Aaron Boone has said that Sanchez will be given a chance to be the everyday catcher, and there are no plans for personal catchers at this point in the season, and Cole left his first outing encouraged by his work with Sanchez.
“He came out at a good time to give me a breather, and I thought we worked well today,” Cole said. “I was confident throwing anything we needed to. He made some good blocks in the dirt. I thought he did a nice job.”
Sanchez also caught Jameson Taillon, who came on in relief of Cole in the second inning for his Yankee debut, and it went as well as the team could have hoped, with Taillon needing just seven pitches to complete a perfect 1-2-3 inning.
“In my head I was like ‘Man, I wish I could have gotten more in-game work,’” Taillon said. “But for the first one, shorter is better. Quick and clean, get out, I’m healthy, I feel great.”
It was Taillon’s first time on a mound in game action since May of 2019, when an injury led to the second Tommy John surgery of his career. But Taillon came out with a new-look delivery and struck out one in an impressive introduction.
“I didn’t have butterflies once I got to the field,” Taillon said. “Once I’m on the mound and stuff, that’s my safe spot and I feel confident.”
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