A “big-time” game from Gerrit Cole usually includes fewer runs, more innings and about double the strikeouts.
The Yankees’ ace wasn’t his best Friday against the Rays, but he flushed his implosion five days earlier against the same red-hot opponent with a performance that was just good enough in a 6-5 win fueled by late-inning offense.
Cole overcame a 30-pitch first inning, limited the damage to a pair of two-out solo home runs and struck out four in five innings.
“That embodied overall our night: a gutsy effort,” manager Aaron Boone said. “After a long first inning, a long second inning and even a long third inning, to be able to give us five and keep us in the game, it’s not always going to be perfect, but that was a big-time outing in my view.”
Of course, Cole’s $324 million contract carries enormous expectations amid playoff-like games like Friday’s at Yankee Stadium.
But this certainly was an improvement from his first major hiccup in a dominant start to the season — blowing a 6-0 lead in a loss Sunday to the Rays.
“It was just a good battle,” Cole said. “As the game progressed, we settled into a better rhythm, the delivery got slightly better and we started executing more pitches.
“We started to get the slider to the edge a bit better. We came out trying to establish a fastball. We got away from the fastball in the sixth inning and the fifth inning last start, so we wanted to make sure that was in a good spot.”
When a pitcher faces the same opponent in back-to-back starts, “the advantage is to the hitters big-time,” Yankees slugger Anthony Rizzo said, crediting Cole’s adjustments.
Randy Arozarena homered off Cole in the first inning and struck an antagonistic pose to the visitor’s dugout as he rounded third base.
“He does that all the time, right?” Cole said. “That’s predictable.”
Jose Siri, who homered off Cole on Sunday, beat Cole in the second inning for a 2-1 lead.
“I was trying to make a competitive pitch to the edge,” Cole said. “I don’t think it was in the strike zone. That was a good swing on a good pitch.”