New York Yankees: 3 Takeaways from Cole’s brilliant win ending the skid

yankees, gerrit cole

The New York Yankees entered last night’s final game with the Los Angeles Angels after losing four straight games with the hope of righting the ship with Yankee ace Gerrit Cole on the mound facing the inexperienced Packy Naughton. Instead, to the delight of Yankee fans everywhere, Cole had one of his best games since becoming a Yankee getting a season-high 15 strikeouts and winning the game 4-1 to stop the Yankee slid.

Cole wins with a season-high 15 strikeouts

Yankee ace Gerrit Cole took to the mound last night, seemingly with a chip on his shoulder. He was immediately dominant with all of his pitches working. At the end of seven innings of work, he amassed 15 strikeouts, a season-high and only for the fourth time in his career. He got 32 swings and misses as he stopped the Yankee’s skid of losing four games in a row for the 4-1 win, his 14th of the season.

For Cole, it was a homecoming of sorts; it was the first time as a Yankee that he returned home to pitch a game. Cole grew up just 15 miles north of Angel’s statement. Reports are the Cole even drove his beat-up 2006 Toyota Tacoma to the stadium. With a multitude of ticket requests from family and friends, the stands were filled with familiars to impress, and that he did.

“It’s a special day,” Cole said. “It’s always a nice time to come out and see some people back where you’re from. Any player, any person can relate to that. There was a little bit of intensity, trying not to get swept on the road. To do it in front of my family is a cherry on top.”

After his seven innings of work Cole let loose of his game face, banged his fist in his glove, and pointed approvingly to his personal catcher Kyle Higashioka. The last out of the night was a perfect slider that he blew past the Angel’s Max Stassi. Cole in the game permitted just one run without a walk in the game for his highest strikeout total since being acquired by the Yankees in December of 2019.

Cole was helped out in the game by Luke Voit’s two-run single and further supported by Brett Gardner’s run-scoring hit that knocked out Angel starter Packy Naughton from the game. Later in the game, the very hot Aaron Judge racked up some insurance with his 30th home run of the season, a solo shot in the eighth inning.

Is the winning slid over?

The New York Yankee fans have been perplexed by the team’s recent play. The Yankees, after a poor start of the season in the first half, had become baseball’s most winning team since July 17th winning and winning more, at one point 13 straight wins, but then a disappointing 4 game losing stretch that set them back in the AL East. During the consecutive wins, the Tampa Bay Rays only lost 2 games. With the Yankees losing 4 in a row, the Yankees actually dropped two games in the East. Now with the Rays losing last night and the Yankees win, the Yankees picked up a game.

Today is a day of rest for the Yankees, but tomorrow they start a weekend series with the Baltimore Orioles, a team they should do well over, if not sweeping them. They will then move on to a tough series with the Blue Jays; then it gets easier playing the New York Mets and the Orioles again. Again, the Yankees should do well over this stretch. Meanwhile, the Rays face the Twins, Boston again, and the Detroit Tigers, so the standings probably won’t change much.

What are the upcoming roster moves?

As of yesterday, the New York Yankees and all MLB teams could add an additional 2 players to their rosters. However, those moves for the Yankees remain unclear. So let’s get this out of the way right away; the Yankees will likely not see the return of Clint Frazier, Miguel Andujar, Daren O’Day, Zack Britton, or Domingo German during the remains of this season.

Beyond then, there are only questions. We do know that Gleyber Torres will be returning to the team for the Orioles series. Going into the postseason, the Yankees will need pitching. With Albert Abreu sent down to Scranton, the Yankees will most likely look to Michael King or Luis Gil to fill a spot, maybe both. If Luis Severino returns even in a bullpen position, it will likely be the last we see of shortstop Andrew Velazquez. Everything remains fluid.