ANAHEIM, Calif. — When the Yankees signed Gerrit Cole, they likely envisioned him pitching in games exactly like Wednesday’s 4-1 win over the Angels.
They never plan on losing four games in a row, but they know Cole is the type of pitcher able to put a stop to a losing streak over a few blissful hours on the mound.
Cole treated the Angels very poorly for seven innings at the stadium he calls his “hometown park,” finally giving the Yankees the type of outing their starters failed to deliver in the series’ first two games. In racking up 15 strikeouts, with no walks, Cole tied a Yankees record for most double-digit strikeouts in a single season — David Cone pitched nine games with 10 strikeouts in 1998.
The Yankees’ offense wasn’t without its issues, but with Cole on the mound, the bats didn’t need to be perfect. Luke Voit made another case for increased playing time by driving in the Yankees’ first runs. In the top of the third with the bases loaded, Voit went after the first pitch he saw from long-haired lefty Packy Naughton, who was making his first start in just his third ever big league game.
Voit’s swing shot a two-out single back up the middle and scored two runs. Naughton’s day was done one inning later when a Brett Gardner single up the middle brought a run in. It was only Gardner’s fourth RBI in 46 plate appearances since the Yankees left Iowa on Aug. 12. But the man who called the Yankees’ recent skid “unacceptable” on Tuesday night did his part to make sure it wouldn’t continue on Wednesday.
Still, Wednesday was all about Cole. He looked every bit like the highest-paid pitcher in baseball, a player designed to make opposing teams lose all the momentum they’d built in previous wins. The Angels couldn’t touch his fastball with a 10-foot pole. Cole got Shohei Ohtani to strike out swinging three times in a row, one of which came in the sixth inning when the Angels’ do-it-all destroyer of worlds represented the tying run.
That sixth inning was Cole’s only rough patch, and he maneuvered through it like the experienced pilot he is. David Fletcher doubled home a run, putting himself on second base for Ohtani and the meat of the order with nobody out. Cole sat Ohtani down with a 99-mph pitch on the black. Then he retired Phil Gosselin on four pitches.
After that it was time for All-Star Jared Walsh, a promising piece of the Angels’ future who’s hit 25 home runs and 25 doubles this year. The 28-year-old came into Wednesday’s game with two hits and a trio of RBIs in the series. Wednesday was just the second time Walsh had faced Cole, though. He got a fitting re-introduction to the AL Cy Young favorite: 100 mph, 99 mph, 100 mph. Inning over.
Knowing that nobody in the bullpen was throwing as well as Cole, manager Aaron Boone brought him back out for the seventh with 101 clicks already on his pitch count. Cole had ended the previous inning by getting the Angels to whiff seven straight times. He yet again ended his seventh and final inning with a swinging strikeout, this one to Max Stassi on a perfectly executed glove-side slider.
Cole shouldered most of the load for the Yankees on Wednesday, but Aaron Judge kept his hot streak going too. He hit a ball with some venom in the eighth inning that gave the bullpen a little wiggle room, whistling it over the left-field wall for the California native’s 30th home run of the season.
Jonathan Loasigia and Aroldis Chapman took it from there. File this game under the “just how they drew it up” tab. The Yankees got a fairly straightforward win in which their best hitter homered and their starting pitcher got 32 swings and misses. This set a new career high for Cole and put an emphatic stop to a four-game losing streak, which began the day after he last pitched.
That’s the type of thing a front office dreams of when it commits $324 million to one player.
