Via Deesha Thosar
FOX Sports MLB Writer
NEW YORK – Before Tuesday, the last taste Yankees The fans had the post-season Gerrit Cole is his fight against Red Sox during the 2021 American League Wild Card Game in Boston last October.
Fast forward to his Tuesday outing against Cleveland, amid thousands of Yankees fans raving about their trump card, and Cole isn’t just setting the tone for New York’s trip to the knockout stages. It was also his redemption.
After all the speculation about whether Cole or left-handed Nestor Cortes should get the ball in game 1, it turns out the Yankees had the right man on the mound after all.
Cole threw 6⅓ turns of the ball in a game against the Yankees’ Win 4-1 through the guardians in Game 1 of ALDS on Tuesday in the Bronx.
The right hand hits eight shots and misses four out of 101 throws, with 63 of those being hits. Cole appeared confident and cool through moments of pressure and total filth against Cleveland’s bottom line. He also gets some help from mostly sharp defenders behind him.
Besides Isiah Kiner-FalefaA frequent ball error early in the first half, the Yankees defense had to give up all night. That trend started with Harrison Bader Quick throw for the cut man on a Jose Ramirez doubled in the third round. Bader’s defensive IQ is kept Amed Rosario from scoring and adding another first Cleveland run. At that time, the Yankees were leading 1-0 because Steven KwanCole’s soloist beat Cole earlier in the inning.
In the fourth part, the left hand Oswaldo Cabrera Sprint to the side and make a great catch in foul territory. Cabrera lost his hat over the wall in the process and high-fived the fan who gave it to him before returning to his place on the left side of the field. This was followed by a smooth attack from him by many of the elite defenses normally seen from the Yankees’ slick third soldier. Josh Donaldson proficiently a Austin Hedges Drive behind the third base bag and take a while before shooting to the first base to get out.
New York’s defense helped Cole get his fourth win in the eighth round. By the end of that game, he had made 70 pitches, and it was important for the right-hander to work faster innings to throw deep and avoid overusing a thin shot. Cole threw the ball 1-2-3 Friday and hit 97 pitches. After the Yankees gave him a 4-1 lead in the sixth inning, he returned for the seventh time in a no-risk move.
Cole has thrown more than 97 pitches in 20 of his 33 starts in the regular season, with his highest pitch at 118, a 6⅔ match on 7 September against Twin. If someone could be put in charge of putting all their heart into the games – in light of the Yankees’ muscles getting weaker following the surprising news of the right arm Scott Effross‘Tommy John has surgery – it’s Cole. Of course, the flip side of Cole winning 200⅔ innings during the season is the fact that he can pick up gas more quickly in the knockout stages. But he hasn’t gotten there yet.
The Yankees ace scored one more goal in the seventh inning before giving up a pass Myles Straw deflected Kiner-Falefa’s gauntlet from a short jump. Cole was then pulled back by Yankees coach Aaron Boone after 6⅓ innings and 101 pitches, allowing only one run on Kwan’s solo homer.
Steven Kwan hits a solo home run off Gerrit Cole
Steven Kwan makes a solo run at home to give the Cleveland Defenders a 1-0 lead early in Game 1 of the ALDS.
Cole received a standing ovation from the ticketing crowd of 47,807 as he trotted back to the Yankees dugout. After fending off the pesky Guardians, he posted along the railing and watched Jonathan Loaisiga completed the seventh inning without allowing any of his successors to score.
And so Cole starts his 2022 post-season with an ERA of 1.42 and a solid outing to go on. If he can keep the lights off with minimal or no damage running home, the Yankees have a chance to go as deep into the post-season as their No. 1 pitcher can take them down.
For now, Tuesday has shown that perhaps Cole’s bouts of boredom are finally behind him.
Deesha Thosar is a FOX Sports MLB writer. She previously covered the Mets for the New York Daily News. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.
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