QUEENS, NY — There was some pretty strong indication that Gerrit Cole was feeling physically fine on Tuesday night at Citi Field when his fastball touched 99 mph in the first inning.
That, however, was where the good ended for the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner.
In just his second start of the season after returning from an elbow injury suffered during spring training and with a 75-pitch limit, Cole was shellacked by the crosstown-rival Mets. In just four innings (72 pitches), he was bopped for six runs on seven hits — four of them home runs including two to Mark Vientos — with four walks and zero strikeouts in the Yankees’ 9-7 loss. It was just the second time in his career he failed to strike out a single batter (May 30, 2016 with the Pirates).
“Disappointing,” he said. “I didn’t give us a good chance to win. Didn’t execute enough good pitches and just kind of dug us a hole.”
The crux of his problem is what he described as finding “a blend of intensity and command.” An inability to find the strike zone led to three walks and a 28-pitch first inning in which he managed to escape allowing just one run. Upon his return to the hill, though, his velocity dipped and the Mets proceeded to tee off.
“It’s a bit like driving a car,” Cole began. “Too much clutch or too little clutch can slip you out of gear. It came out really tremendous in the first but I had to make a lot of pitches. The reality is we just weren’t in the strike zone enough and it cost us 28 pitches… On a hot summer night with extra velo, that’s a challenge.”
The 33-year-old right-hander has never been one to max out on his fastball every time he throws it. Normally, it lives around 94-95 mph but when necessary, he can rear back and bring something extra on it.
On Tuesday night after that first inning, his four-seamer topped 95 just four more times the rest of the night. It was especially concerning in the second inning when he gave up two home runs in the span of three batters.
He left a pair of fastballs up in the zone — the first at 91 mph to Vientos and the second at 93 mph to Harrison Bader — both left the yard.
“I’ve never been out there trying to throw my max effort for the entirety of the game. It’s give and take,” Cole said. “The reality is that give and take needs to get sharper… I would’ve liked to have had a little more velo… I just fired it a little too slow. Those pitches are in relatively good areas but the problem is, they were ready for those pitches in those situations.”
There are no physical issues, at least, as Cole said he felt “really good,” which appears to be good enough for his teammates, who are convinced this is just a small bump in the road.
“This is this guy’s spring training coming back from an injury like that,” Yankees slugger Aaron Judge said. “Anything with the arm, you have to be careful with that kind of stuff. Seeing him come back and seeing the velo that he has, he was executing the location, it just wasn’t as fine as he normally does. He’s still working back. That’s our ace, that’s our guy, and I want him out there every five days. Games like this happen, you just have to move on and learn from it.”Read more:
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