BALTIMORE — Straight away, the sight of Gerrit Cole taking the mound Tuesday night had to be a lift.
A week earlier, the Yankees watched their ace make an early exit from a start at Yankee Stadium, due to a tight left hamstring — a moment that allowed minds to wander in dark directions.
As it turned out, Cole’s next turn was delayed by just two days, and he was “probably ready as early as Sunday or Monday,’’ Yankees manager Aaron Boone said before the game at Camden Yards.
“Just wanted to make sure we were smart about this,’’ Boone said. “And that he was able to throw his normal (between starts) bullpen and settle into his normal routine.
“I think he’s in a good spot,’’ Boone said of his right-hander’s readiness. “Hopefully, he’ll have a normal Gerrit Cole-like outing.’’
After a bumpy start, Cole lasted just five innings due to an elevated pitch count but yielded just one run in a 7-2 win against the Orioles.
Homer happy
Before 10,235 fans, many as usual rooting for the visitors, the Yankees smashed five home runs.
Two-run homers by Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton and a solo shot by Luke Voit provided a 5-0 lead by the third inning against lefty starter Alexander Wells.
In the eighth, Joey Gallo joined the rest of the “Jumbo Package’’ of outfielders with his 34th homer of the year, his ninth as a Yankee. DJ LeMahieu drilled his 10th in the ninth inning.
Judge has now homered in both games he’s played since exiting Sunday night’s game against the Mets at Citi Field due to dizziness.
Whatever the cause, which remains unclear, Judge has not displayed any lingering effects.
Judge had described the feeling Sunday as similar to “getting your bell rung’’ during his football days. Anyway, he now has a team-leading 34 home runs, and 14 of them have either tied a game or given the Yankees a lead.
After Stanton sent a two-run fly the opposite way over the right field wall (his 28th), Voit followed with an absolute no-doubter to left (his 10th).
Taking care of business
Instantly, there was a this-is-more-like-it feel about the Yankees’ work against the last-place O’s.
Now, with 17 regular-season games remaining, the Yankees (81-64) are 2-0 into a 10-game stretch of playing subpar clubs, including Baltimore (46-98), Cleveland (69-72) and Texas (53-90).
Of course, the Orioles won two of three games earlier this month against the Yanks, who are just 10-7 against the AL East dregs this year.
Meanwhile, first-place Tampa Bay (18-1) and wild-card leading Toronto (11-5) have done a far better job against Baltimore this year, as has Boston (9-4), which entered Tuesday tied for the second wild card spot with the Yanks.
Finding his groove
Cole needed 29 pitches to get through the first inning, standing the bases loaded.
After Cedric Mullins lashed a leadoff double, Cole got two quick outs before walking Trey Mancini (fastball) and Austin Hays (curveball) on 3-2 pitches.
Again, Cole (15-7) went to a full count before striking out Ramon Urias swinging over a curveball.
From there, Cole retired 10 of the next 11 batters he faced. And then he hit a patch of turbulence with two out in the fifth.
One strike away from getting out of the inning, Cole surrendered an RBI double to Ryan Mountcastle on a 3-2 fastball.
After walking Anthony Santander, Cole snapped up out of crouch as pitching coach Matt Blake went to the mound.
Shortly after Blake retreated, Cole fired a 3-2 fastball past DJ Stewart and whirled with a fist pump in reaction to his final pitch (and seventh strikeout) of the night.
King for a day
Michael King delivered three sharp, hitless relief innings following Cole.
The right-hander induced two double play grounders in the sixth, but the Yanks only converted one.
Two days after being switched off shortstop to second base due to his defensive issues, Gleyber Torres botched an easy DP grounder for an error, but recovered on the very next play to convert a 4-3 double play.
Just re-signed by the Yanks, Sal Romano gave up a run in the ninth and exited after throwing out his pitching hand to stop Kelvin Gutierrez's line drive single.
With two runners aboard, closer Aroldis Chapman was called on to get the final two outs — both on strikeouts.
