On Tuesday night, New York Yankees star Gerrit Cole had one of the worst outings of his career. During Game 1 against the Mets, Cole allowed four consecutive home runs, a stat only slightly better than his game against Minnesota on June 9, 2022, where he allowed five home runs.
To make matters worse, this marks only the second time in Gerrit Cole’s career that he didn’t record any strikeouts. The first instance occurred on May 20, 2016.
Stats talk for themselves
Gerrit Cole struggled from the start, and according to Talkin’ Yanks’ Katie Sharpe, he had already allowed two home runs by the second inning. Last year, he never allowed multiple home runs in an inning in a single game.
By the fourth inning, Gerrit Cole had thrown nine four-seam fastballs with a velocity of 94.0 mph or lower, the most in any game since joining the Yankees.
Before the game against the Mets, Gerrit Cole expressed his excitement about facing them. “The last one was a very lively environment, so I’m anticipating probably the same,” said Cole, referring to his previous outing against the Mets in Queens last season.
However, Gerrit Cole’s return had been challenging due to elbow nerve inflammation and edema, which kept him out for the first two and a half months of the season.
The Yankees were aware of the schedule and decided to bring Gerrit Cole back even though he wasn’t fully built up. Cole built up to 70 pitches in his final rehab start, but the Yankees scaled it back to 65 pitches in his return against the Orioles. He finished with 62 pitches in that game, accounting for the adrenaline that comes with pitching in the majors.
This Subway Series marked Gerrit Cole’s third time pitching in it.
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