BRONX — The Yankees got another ace performance from Gerrit Cole on Wednesday, holding the Philadelphia Phillies to just one run on three hits as the Bombers defeated the Phillies 4-2.
Gleyber Torres drove in the Yankees’ first two runs of the game and Jose Trevino provided some insurance in the 7th with a two-run blast into the left-field stands. The win helped the Yankees take the three-game series against the Phillies on what was a cold and misty day at Yankee Stadium.
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New York has taken the first two series of the season and will now hit the road for the next six games with stops in Baltimore and Cleveland coming up. Thursday’s series opener with the Orioles was postponed and will take place on Friday, giving the Yankees a day off.
Cole’s dominance has been hard to overlook through his first two starts this year as he struck out eight batters on Wednesday, which included striking out three of the first five batters of the game. Through the first two starts of the year, Cole has allowed just one earned run on six hits while racking up 19 strikeouts.
“I feel like he’s been in a good spot since day one of spring training and he’s carried that right into the season,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Had a little bit of everything going today. I thought his fastball was really good command-wise. changeup continues to be a factor for him, both breaking balls. He was he was sharp. He’s just throwing the ball real well.”
Cole is now just the third Yankees pitcher to record 19-plus strikeouts and one run or fewer allowed in the first two games pitched, according to Katie Sharp. The only others to do so were Al Downing in 1964 and Whitey Ford in 1959.
“Just in a good spot,” Cole said about his start to the year. “I mean physically ready and in a good spot to execute pitches and throwing some good pitches.”
Oddly, Cole’s day came to a bizarre end when he became the first Yankee to get called for a pitch clock violation this season. A miscommunication between Cole and catcher Jose Trevino resulted in the violation and allowed Nick Castellanos to walk.
The Yankees starter came out of the game after that.
“I don’t have a lot of experience with that one, so that was my first time handling it,” Cole joked about exiting the game in such an odd way.
Torres drove in two Yankees runs on three hits and had two stolen bases. He got the Yankees onto the board in the first inning when he hit a line drive to left field to score Aaron Judge in the top of the first.
It marked the fifth time in the Yankees’ first six games that they scored first in the game.
Torres gave the Yanks some breathing room in the sixth when he made it a 2-0 game. DJ LeMahieu doubled to start off the inning and two batters later Torres put the ball on the ground up the middle to score LeMahieu.
Things got dicey for the Yankees after Cole came out of the game in the seventh and Jonathan Loáisiga came in, giving up a hit and plunking the first two batters he faced. A two-out sac-fly by Jake Cave cut the Yankees’ lead to 2-1, but Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who came into the game in the third for an injured Josh Donaldson, made a play at third to end the threat.
Jose Trevino hit his first home run of the season in the seventh to give the Yankees some breathing room. Oswaldo Cabrera walked to start the bottom of the seventh and then Trevino put the ball into the left field stands.
Kyle Schwarber hit his second homer of the season to cut the lead to two, but New York held the Phillies off the rest of the way. Clay Holmes, who entered in the ninth, struck out three straight batters to end the game.
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