New York Yankees‘ Gerrit Cole had a great start against the Rays on Wednesday night. There was a lot of intensity between both teams despite there being no fans in the stadium. Cole seemed to be feeding into that intensity. After giving up two home runs to the Rays, he seemed angry and started throwing faster. From that point on, he was unstoppable. Tampa couldn’t touch anything he was throwing. The Yankees’ ace was everything that Yankee fans wanted.
ACE. That's why we gave him the ? pic.twitter.com/oBlC2zlZP8
— Pinstripe Strong (@PinstripeStrong) August 20, 2020
In the 6th inning, Cole had gotten two out with a man on first. Then, Boone came out to the mound and signaled to the bullpen pulling Cole from the game. Right off the bat. Cole seemed to be a little uneasy about the decision but gave the ball to Boone and started walking towards the dugout.
As he approached, you can see him glare over at Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake. He walked toward the bench and threw his glove and headed to the clubhouse. Before going out of sight of the camera, you can see him share some words with Matt Blake. They didn’t look to be pleasant words either.
That is awesome to see as a fan and as a coach. Cole shows you that even though he had 109 pitches, he wants to go out there and continue to compete. This is what makes him one of the best in the league. To me, he earned his pinstripes tonight. It was a game of intensity, competition, and grit from Cole, and I loved every bit of it. Exactly what you want to see from a guy like him.