The New York Yankees dropped the season opener on Thursday against the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2. The Bombers couldn’t capitalize on a great outing by ace Gerrit Cole and an impressive two-run home run by catcher Gary Sanchez.
The Yankees were winning 2-1 as the sixth inning arrived in the Bronx. However, Cole, at that point, allowed a mammoth game-tying home run to Teoscar Hernandez on hanging slider that caught all of the middle of the plate.
In the end, the Yankees’ ace pitched 5.1 innings of two-run ball, conceding five hits and two walks while striking out eight Blue Jays. It wasn’t his finest performance, but it wasn’t bad by all means. The offense couldn’t produce when it counted and the extra-inning rule ended up favoring the visitors.
“I just want that slider back,†Cole said according to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. “It was such a bad pitch. I just wanted to finish a little better and obviously to have held the lead there.â€
The Yankees had their chances
After several missed opportunities, including Mike Tauchman being thrown out at home in the bottom of the ninth after a DJ LeMahieu grounder to third, the Blue Jays went ahead in the 10th with a Randa Grichuk’s RBI double against Nick Nelson, who pitched a fine inning but was done by the extra inning rule that puts a runner on second with no outs after the ninth frame.
“They made the pitches today; we just couldn’t break through with a big hit,†Boone said. “We had our chances. I thought we pitched the ball pretty well and made the plays. We gave ourselves opportunities. If we continue to do that, we’ll break through.â€
As for Cole, he went home thinking about that hanging slider, and how the Yankees could have won without it. But it’s baseball, and these things happen. He’ll get his revenger next week.