ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Gerrit Cole has spent his Yankees career being measured by nights like Saturday.
The right-hander signed a nine-year, $324 million contract to be the pitcher the Yankees hand the ball to when October begins. Game 1 of the American League Division Series at Tropicana Field was that kind of assignment.
It was also a homecoming of sorts. Cole had not started a playoff game since Game 5 of the 2024 World Series. In between, he had Tommy John surgery in March 2025 and worked his way back to the top of the Yankees rotation.
Manager Aaron Boone picked him over Carlos Rodon for the opener, a choice that drew plenty of debate in New York. Cole answered with 82 pitches across five innings against a Tampa Bay lineup that rarely strikes out.
He allowed five hits, walked one and struck out five. Only one of those pitches truly hurt him.
With one out in the third inning, Cole worked Jonathan Aranda to a 2-2 count. He tried to bury an 85.2 mph changeup low and away. He got the away part, on the edge of the zone. The ball stayed slightly higher than he intended.
Aranda sent it 417 feet to right field. It was the only run in the Rays’ 1-0 win, and it left Cole with the loss.
The Yankees offense gave him nothing to work with. Rasmussen did not allow a Yankees hit until two outs in the eighth, so Cole’s margin was zero from the first pitch.
The Rays, one of the hardest lineups in baseball to strike out, also made him work through long at-bats. Boone had a fully rested bullpen and a Sunday off-day behind him.
For a Yankees ace on a $324 million deal, one swing would define the outing. The only question left was how Cole would own it.
A pitcher in that spot usually spends the night replaying the pitch. Cole made clear he would not.
“Obviously it comes down to us losing the game on that pitch; that’s tough,” Yankees backstop Austin Wells told. “But I would throw that pitch again probably 10 more times, and I think we’d end up with a good result. So that’s why you say you just tip your cap. Great swing, and that’s just how it goes. That’s baseball.”
Cole: ‘That’s just the way it goes’
Cole did not question the selection, the grip or the location. He framed the homer as the cost of attacking a good hitter with a good pitch.
“It’s a pretty steep price to pay,” Cole said. “He crushed it. That’s just the way it goes.”
He also refused to treat the night as a failure of execution. He pointed instead to the pitcher on the other side, who held the Yankees hitless into the eighth inning.
“It’s a bit of a tough one. [Drew] Rasmussen had a historic night. Sometimes you’ve got to tip your cap,” Cole said.
Cole even found something to enjoy in the duel.
“That was a lot of fun, yeah. I mean, [Rasmussen] was unbelievable,” Cole said.
The man who called the changeup backed him fully. Catcher Austin Wells said the Yankees would make the same choice again.
“Obviously it comes down to us losing the game on that pitch; that’s tough. But I would throw that pitch again probably 10 more times, and I think we’d end up with a good result,” Wells said.
What the Rays and Boone saw
Tampa Bay viewed the pitch differently. Rays manager Kevin Cash praised Cole but said Aranda got something to hit.
Cash said the changeup “looked to be kind of middle-middle from Gerrit Cole, who was tremendous tonight, as usual.”
Jonathan Aranda said he was not sitting on the changeup at all.
“It was simply a reaction [to the pitch]. I was looking for the fastball, I know that I do well against the high fastball,” Aranda said in Spanish.
Boone defended his starter. He said Cole worked in high-leverage spots all night.
“It felt like it was leverage the whole game. And he executed some really good pitches against some of their best hitters in the right spots. So I thought he threw the ball really well,” Boone said.
Cole wanted to go back out for the sixth. Boone went to the Yankees bullpen instead. Cole chose his words carefully when asked about it.
“[Boone and I] left the conversation at the end on the same page,” Cole said.
Before the series, Cole explained why he trusts his location against AL East hitters, Tampa Bay’s in particular.
“I drill a spot, and they know I hit the spot, and they’re more apprehensive to challenge against me,” Cole said.
Cole can’t escape his responsibility in Yankees loss
The Yankees paid Cole for exactly this day. The no-regret stance also runs into a hard number.
Aranda’s homer was the 10th Cole has allowed over his last five games. That is the most he has allowed in any five-game span of his career, according to data shared after the game.
His 2026 game log shows how it built. He gave up four homers at San Diego on Sept. 6 and three against the Mets on Sept. 12. He then allowed one in each of his next three outings, including Saturday.
In October, Cole keeps pitching well enough to win and keeps walking off without one. These are his three most recent postseason starts:
| Date | Game | Result | Cole’s line |
| Oct. 25, 2024 | World Series Game 1 at Dodgers | Yankees lost | 6 IP, 1 ER, 4 K |
| Oct. 30, 2024 | World Series Game 5 vs. Dodgers | Yankees lost | 6 2/3 IP, 0 ER, 6 K |
| Oct. 3, 2026 | ALDS Game 1 at Rays | Yankees lost 1-0 | 5 IP, 1 ER, 5 K |
Cole took the loss Saturday; he had no decision in both 2024 starts.
That adds up to two earned runs in 17 2/3 innings, a 1.02 ERA with 15 strikeouts, by PinstripesNation’s count.
The Yankees lost all three of those games.
Cole stood by the pitch that lost the latest one. The Yankees now trail the series 1-0.
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