Two and a half weeks after landing on the COVID-19 IL, Gerrit Cole looked like his ace self in his return on Monday night.
Not surprisingly, Cole logged his lowest pitch total since his Fourth of July clunker against the Mets, but made the most of his 90 pitches, allowing just one run on two hits across 5.2 innings of work. The Yankee ace struck out nine and walked just one, his lone mistake coming on a solo home run by Justin Upton in the top of the first.
Cole was concerned that his command wouldn’t be at its midseason form, but those concerns quickly vanished as he settled in to a solid outing, his fifth straight with at least eight strikeouts.
“I was a bit prepared for it, but didn’t really know where the balls were gonna go,” Cole said. “The plan was just to attack the strike zone in the first and go from there.”
Despite having 18 days in between starts, with much of the time spent battling symptoms of COVID-19, Cole gave the Yanks some important length with a doubleheader against the Red Sox due up on Tuesday. If there was any rust, Cole didn’t show any of it.
“I guess I just played some good catch and carried some of the delivery and work we did prior to the game into the game,” Cole said. “I thought we used our weapons good tonight and mixed up some pitches well and that we were a bit unpredictable and executing well.”
There were some close calls along the way. In the fifth, Angels top prospect Jo Adell ripped a liner to center field, but Jonathan Davis was able to chase it down and make a leaping catch just in front of the wall to end the inning.
“He made a nice play,” Cole said. “Fast guys like that don’t always have to kick it into first gear. He got it better than all of us expected, although the pitch wasn’t as good as I initially thought. He got a really good swing on it but Jon ran it down, and it was a really nice play.”
Shohei Ohtani gave Cole a scare as well. After striking him out in the first inning to begin the game, Ohtani rocked a 108 mph fly ball into the gap in right center, prompting Cole to kick his leg up in frustration for serving up what he thought was a home run. But it was ran down by Giancarlo Stanton, preserving the lead for the Yankees.
“I’ve had some good battles with him over the years,” Cole said of Ohtani. “He makes you nervous every time he’s in the box, especially in a one-run game.”
The Yankees needed every bit of Cole’s efficiency on Monday, as the offense stalled after the first inning, even failing to score with the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the sixth. Despite the long layoff, Cole reintroduced himself to the Yankee Stadium crowd as the ace the team needs him to be down the stretch, as the Yanks look to keep closing in on a playoff spot.
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
Follow WFAN on Social Media
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitch
