The New York Yankees ended up prevailing on Friday night against the Boston Red Sox, but it was a weird night in many regards. There was a dispute between fans and the league over Apple TV+ rights to air the game instead of the YES Network, there was a home run by a player with number 99 and it wasn’t Aaron Judge, and Gerrit Cole was ejected for the first time in his career.
Cole ran into some trouble in the sixth innings after allowing just a solo homer before then. He had runners on first and second and two outs, and while facing Alex Verdugo, the umpire didn’t give him a close borderline call that would have helped him get through the inning unscathed.
But instead, the Yankees’ ace allowed a three-rum bomb to Verdugo that tied the game at four. The inning ended, but Cole started jawing at the home plate umpire about the close call and was ejected.
“It’s obviously just an emotional moment,” Cole said, per SNY. “I mean, first career ejection and after it I was pretty… I’m just a competitor, I’m just upset. It was the worst pitch of the sequence, he put a beautiful swing on it and did what he wanted to do with the pitch… the damage there is hard to swallow but at the same time, there’s some things that we did well.”
The Yankees need a sharper Cole for the playoffs
Cole’s 3.49 ERA is good, but Yankees fans all over the world know he can be much better than that.
The pitch that sparked the argument was, in fact, a bit low, so Cole may have been letting his frustration out.
The Yankees ended up winning thanks to a Jose Trevino RBI single in the eight. The catcher believes the no-call may have affected Cole’s focus in the next pitch.
“Possibly. I mean that’s huge,” Trevino said. “As a catcher you want that pitch, as a pitcher you want that pitch. As a hitter you get another pitch to live so that kind of situation, we’d like a strike there.”
Cole has allowed 31 home runs already, which may be a problem for the Yankees.