The New York Yankees faced off against the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday afternoon with Gerrit Cole on the mound (7-3 final score). Opposite Cole, Seattle boasted their newfound Ace, Luis Castillo, whom they gave up a ton of prospects to acquire.
General manager Brian Cashman was hoping his Ace could perform a bit better, but Cole had a disappointing outing, giving up seven hits and six earned runs over just 6.0 innings. All six runs came in the 1st inning, with Jared Kelenic, Carlos Santana, and Eugenio Suarez all smashing home runs.
Cole now features a 3.56 ERA on the season, stringing together three consecutive poor performances. In his last game against Kansas City Royals, he gave up five earned runs and seven hits over six innings.
Come the postseason, the Yankees need an entirely different version of Cole, but they are hoping new acquisition, Frankie Montas, can help support the rotation.
The Yankees need to find their groove:
Offensively, the Yanks produced just five hits and three earned runs with Aaron Judge on the bench. In his place, DJ LeMahieu settled into the number two spot, but once again, Josh Donaldson failed to make the most of the cleanup slot. In the month of July, Donaldson hit .195 with a 23% on base rate. The Yankees simply can’t continue to rely on him if his offensive efficiency remains stagnant.
Tallying eight strikeouts, the Yankees showed poor plate discipline, failing to get anything going with Judge enjoying a rest day.
Looking ahead to Thursday, the Yankees will take on the St. Louis Cardinals with Nestor Cortes on the mound. Cortes features a 2.53 ERA this season over 106.2 innings.
Reports have indicated that the Yankees will try to mitigate fatigue down the stretch with Cortes, aided by Domingo German and the acquisition of Montas. However, Cashman traded Jordan Montgomery to St. Louis, so we should see an appearance from Gumby in the upcoming series but on the other side of the diamond.