ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — On a night perfection was required, mere quality was not enough for Gerrit Cole.
The third of three Yankees aces, in his first start of this postseason, held down a strong Rays lineup and threw just one pitch he could regret in five innings.
He was solid. He was not Drew Rasmussen.
Cole allowed a home run to Jonathan Aranda that ended up being the difference in the game if not the story of the game. Against a Yankees lineup that had scored 18 runs over two wild-card contests against Boston, Rasmussen threw a one-hit shutout in a 1-0 Rays victory in Game 1 of the ALDS on Saturday.
Pitching on nine days of rest, Cole betrayed little rust, looked strong against the peskiest lineup in baseball and on most nights would have walked off the mound smiling.
There was no grin because he blinked.
With one out in the third inning, Cole aimed a 2-2 changeup down and away. It was away, on the edge of the strike zone. It was not down.
“It’s a pretty steep price to pay,” Cole said after he allowed five hits and a walk with five strikeouts. “He crushed it. That’s just the way it goes.”
Cole’s last batter of the game was the most entertaining at-bat of the night. Against Junior Caminero, the two stars battled for 11 pitches before Austin Wells ran to the mound to talk with Cole. After that breather, Cole turned to a 12th-pitch knuckle-curve that grazed the top of the zone to freeze one of the best hitters in baseball.
One of the best pitchers of his generation walked off the mound believing he would return for the sixth. He did not.
After 82 pitches, he talked with manager Aaron Boone, who had ridden Cam Schlittler and Max Fried longer in the wild-card series and pulled the plug early on Cole.
“[Boone and I] left the conversation at the end on the same page,” Cole said, choosing his words carefully, of a move that would have gained more scrutiny if Ryan Weathers, Paul Blackburn and Brent Headrick had not combined for three scoreless, hitless innings in relief.
Boone said Cole “got us off to a good start” but said the Rays “made him work,” which is part of the identity of a team that rarely strikes out.
As early as the beginning of the fourth inning, after Cole gave up a leadoff single to Victor Mesa Jr., Boone began warming up a reliever (Blackburn in that case, and Headrick began throwing as the fifth inning began). On a night Cole allowed just one run but seven balls struck at least 95 mph, Boone may have seen warning signs.
Cole won many battles Saturday, but not with his manager behind closed doors and not with Rasmussen.
“That was a lot of fun,” he acknowledged of the battle of aces. “He was unbelievable.”
