This was the kind of night the Yankees envisioned from their ace.
Gerrit Cole had a quality start despite a near-troublesome sixth inning on the mound Tuesday night. That paired with the Yankees’ booming offense earned a dominant 12-2 victory over the White Sox in The Bronx.
A first-inning home run from Andrew Benintendi was Cole’s only initial worry. He retired the next 13 batters until a single in the sixth inning that led to another run and loaded the bases with two outs.
However, he got the best of the final batter of the frame, Braden Montgomery, forcing a groundout to second base.
“He was under the gun there and was able to make the pitch to get out and get through the sixth there, which I thought was a great way for him to finish,” manager Aaron Boone said after the win.
Cole, 35, walked away with six strikeouts while surrendering three hits, two earned runs and two walks across six innings.
He threw 90 pitches, 59 for strikes.
“I thought the command got a little bit better as the game went on,” Cole said. “I thought we kept them off balanced and stayed in the strike zone well after getting a lead. Not too many mistakes, just kind of lost the zone on the walks in the last inning.”
It was a bounce-back night for Cole, showing strong improvement from his previous two outings.
Coming into Tuesday, he had allowed a combined six earned runs, 11 hits, three walks and six strikeouts in that span.
The Cy Young winner only pitched four innings in his previous outing against the Guardians, saying he was “in survival mode” and absolutely “gassed” due to the humidity.
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“I thought he threw the ball and I thought he was on the attack and aggressive early on …” Boone said. “I thought he did a really good job of setting the tone tonight against a good-hitting club with some power that can hurt you.”
Cole, now through five starts since returning from Tommy John surgery, was satisfied with the “base layers of paint,” as he called it, that he has built up so far this season, holding a 2.57 ERA.
“I kept them in the ballgame every time. It feels pretty good. Getting some good length and been able to continue to build pitch count,” he said. “Try to sharpen some stuff up while competing.”