PHILADELPHIA _ Compare, for a moment, two different images of Gerrit Cole on the Citizens Bank Park mound Wednesday night.
First, the early version, the portion of the evening where he received a visit from his pitching coach after 10 batters and five outs, down 2-0, his catcher castigating the home plate umpire. Contrast that with the bottom of the sixth, when he threw an outside changeup good enough that Andres Blanco threw his bat as he flailed at it, still throwing 99 mph on his 112th pitch of the evening. This contradiction, on display during a 5-2 Pirates victory against the Philadelphia Phillies, illustrates what Cole can be when he is right and what he has done at times this season.
Cole (7-7) put forth four dominant innings after tough sledding and high pitch counts in his first two. In six innings he allowed two runs and seven hits. Eight Phillies went down on strikes against Cole.
The first four swung or looked at his curveball, which he threw often early _ the Phillies hit .190 against curveballs, 25th in the major leagues. Nos. 5 and 6 came on fastballs and he collected the final two on good changeups, which, along with his slider, he threw more in the later innings.
Cole put two strikes on two batters in the first inning. The third strike eluded him. Daniel Nava led off with a single on a 2-2 pitch. Two batters later Freddy Galvis homered on a low curveball. Nick Williams fell behind 0-2 but singled to extend the inning.
The issues continued in the second, which Odubel Herrera led off with a single on a 1-2 count. After two strikeouts on curveballs, Cole threw a full-count fastball low in the zone to Nava. The pitch looked like a called strike three that would end the inning. Home plate umpire Larry Vanover called it ball four, the inning continued and pitching coach Ray Searage visited the mound.
Francisco Cervelli used this opportunity to express his displeasure with Vanover before Searage pushed the two apart. After the final out of the inning, Cole rushed in to separate Cervelli and Vanover, but Vanover patted Cole on the arm, as if to say, we're just talking.
The Williams single and Nava walk forced Cole to face two extra batters and throw six extra pitches. He needed 46 pitches to finish two innings.
With Andrew McCutchen on first in the fourth inning, Josh Bell lifted a fly ball to right. Williams ran it down on the warning track, but it ticked off his glove right before he collided with the wall and Bell had an RBI triple. David Freese's sacrifice fly tied the game.
Lively allowed a single to Gregory Polanco and a walk to Cervelli before inducing what should have been the final out of the inning, a soft dribbler from Jordy Mercer. But rather than setting his feet, he threw on the move as he fell away from first, and the high throw loaded the bases for Cole, so Lively still had a chance to get out of it. But Cole hit a two-run single up the middle and the Pirates took a 4-2 lead.
Mercer added a run in the sixth with an RBI triple.
