Gerrit Cole spun a nine-inning gem, and with an assist from Juan Soto\u2019s cameo, the offense came through in extras.<\/p>\n
Gerrit Cole is really really good at pitching. His last outing against Boston, an admitted stinker, left a smelly miasma. Otherwise, he\u2019d been locked in for the last couple months. Tonight, Cole took it to another level. If the offense had come through in time, he\u2019d have tossed a Maddux. Instead, he had to settle for the rare nine-inning win that was not a complete game, the Yankees\u2019 first\u00a0since 1976.<\/p>\n
I suspect though that if the Yanks had asked, he would have stomped back out to the mound for the 10th inning to try and lock down the extra-inning CG. Nonetheless, Luke Weaver capably nailed the 4-2 victory and his third save in as many opportunities since unofficially moving into the closer\u2019s role.<\/p>\n
Speaking of the offense, I can\u2019t prove this without doing a ton of research, but it feels like the\u00a0Yankees\u00a0are infuriatingly incompetent against pitchers they are facing the first time. They\u2019ve been like this since time immemorial (or at least the last decade or so). Boy oh boy, they were on brand tonight. Through four innings against J.T. Ginn they mustered two paltry baserunners: singles by Gleyber Torres in the first and Anthony Volpe in the third. Both, of course, were promptly erased by double plays by the very next hitters. Nothing like making a rookie starter who entered the game with an ERA that flirted with 5.00 look like Greg Maddux.<\/p>\n
Thankfully, Cole came out of the gates much better than when we last saw him. He effortlessly retired the Athletics in the first, highlighted by a whiff of Brent Rooker, who\u2019s quietly become one of the Junior Circuit\u2019s most feared sluggers.<\/p>\n
The second was more of the same. Three hitters stepped to the dish, and three went back to the dugout. The inning might have turned out differently without a\u00a0sparkling defensive play\u00a0by Gleyber Torres, who threw out Zach Gelof from the seat of his pants after laying out to snare Gelof\u2019s grounder.<\/p>\n
Oakland snapped the scoreless tie in the fourth. After a leadoff single from Lawrence Butler, he stole second. Shea Langeliers came to the dish and grounded a ball through the left side. Butler scored easily and Oakland led, 1-0.<\/p>\n
The bottom of the Yankee lineup picked up their ace in the fifth. Anthony Rizzo worked a well-deserved walk, and Trent Grisham singled deep enough to left-center to move Rizzo to third. To the dish stepped Anthony Volpe. It feels like he has stranded a literal army of runners the last couple of weeks. So, to see him single into left field and score Rizzo was incredibly satisfying.<\/p>\n