The New York Yankees pushed Gerrit Cole’s start back a day in hopes he would be fresher and better against the Detroit Tigers on Monday.
But it turns out the extra rest didn’t help.
Cole lamented his mistakes and admitted the Tigers pressured him throughout his un-Cole-like outing where he allowed five runs and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings in a 5-3 loss.
Cole struck out five but fell to 2-2 in six post-Tommy John surgery big-league outings. He threw 89 pitches, and 61 strikes, before manager Aaron Boone removed him for Paul Blackburn with one out in the fifth inning.
The Yankees (41-26) dropped their third straight game but still lead the Tampa Bay Rays by two games atop the American League East.
Gerrit Cole ‘Made a Handful of Mistakes’ on Monday
GettyGerrit Cole had his worst outing of the season Monday in Detroit.
Cole has been so good since he returned to the mound last month that Yankees fans could be forgiven if they forgot he could have bad outings.
But even though Monday was his worst outing by far since coming off the injured list, Cole still got 11 swinging strikes and nearly tight roped through the first three innings despite allowing the leadoff man to reach in those frames.
But the dam broke with two outs in the third when four straight Tigers reached with two outs, and they plated a pair of runs to go up 3-1.
“I sure made a handful of mistakes there,” Cole said. “They hit a good amount of good pitches. But we just weren’t able to respond with the type of quality pitches to get out of those situations from the extra pressure they put on us.”
Budding Yankees nemesis Riley Greene was in the middle of it all, scoring twice including a no-doubt, 422-foot solo home run that put Detroit up 5-1.
“The opposition is going to put pressure on you sometimes,” said Cole. “The reality is, it’s not the try-hard league. It’s the get-it-done league, and we just didn’t get it done tonight.”
Aaron Boone Thought Gerrit Cole was ‘Alright’ Stuff-Wise
GettyRiley Greene is becoming a Yankees nemesis.
Boone, himself, thought Cole got beat by a good offense Monday.
“I thought stuff-wise, it was alright,” Boone said. “He had some swing and miss going; had some strikeouts. They didn’t miss, though. When he missed or was a little off with the fastball, they were able to square it up.”
The good news is Cole said his struggles were not a function of elbow soreness or post-Tommy John surgery rust.
The bad news is Cole faced 24 batters and retired only 13, which is surprising since the Tigers are 24th in the majors in runs. Plus, the Yankees pushed him back from his scheduled start Sunday to throw Monday in Motown.
“They pressured him with a lot of good at-bats,” Boone said. “Even early in the first couple innings, he held them off the scoreboard, but they were able to get the leadoff runner on and pressure him and make him work pretty hard.
“They put some good swings on some pitches they got in a little bit of the heart [of the plate].”
Yankees’ Gerrit Cole Gets Honest on ‘Mistakes’ After Rough Outing in Tigers Loss