ANAHEIM, Calif. — The first pitch had not left Gerrit Cole’s hand, and the New York Yankees already led by three.
Spencer Jones drove a two-run homer into the seats. Jazz Chisholm Jr. followed with an opposite-field shot into the left-field corner. Back-to-back, before a single Angel came to bat in the home half.
It was the kind of start the Yankees had begged for all summer. Their bats had gone cold in first innings for a month. On Tuesday night, the ice broke fast.
So for five innings, this looked like the cleanest night the Yankees had put together in a while. Cole worked in the ballpark where he grew up. He held a lead. His teammates piled on hits. A 10-1 loss the night before felt like an old memory.
Then the sixth inning arrived. And for the second start in a row, that is where Cole’s evening turned.
The Yankees still won, 7-3, over the newly sold Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium. New York collected 14 hits. Jones reached base four times and drove in three runs. Chisholm added three hits. The lineup did plenty.
But the story the box score half-hides is not the offense. It is the pattern forming around the Yankees’ co-ace at exactly the wrong time of year.
A sixth-inning problem recurring for Cole
Cole (8-7) allowed three runs and eight hits over 5⅓ innings. He struck out five and walked one. For most of the night, he looked like the pitcher the Yankees will lean on in October.
The trouble came in one frame. Los Angeles trailed 4-1 when Wade Meckler opened the sixth with a single. Moises Ballesteros singled behind him. Then Christian Moore sliced a two-run triple to right that a diving Jones could not reach. The lead shrank to 4-3, and the tying run stood at third.
Cole was pulled. His night was over at that base hit.
That alone would read as a routine bump. What makes it worth watching is the calendar around it. Cole ran into serious trouble in the sixth inning of his previous start as well, against Houston. Two straight outings, same inning, same unraveling. For a pitcher in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery, a repeating late-inning fade is the kind of detail a contender files away.
Cole made his 2026 debut in late May after the elbow operation. The Yankees have watched his workload closely all year. A trend that clusters in the sixth is not a crisis in September. It is a note the coaching staff cannot ignore in a playoff-bound rotation.
A quiet reliever answered Yankees’ biggest moment
When Cole exited, the game hung on one at-bat. The tying run was 90 feet away with one out. This was the Yankees’ most dangerous moment of the night, and it belonged to a reliever most fans rarely mention.
Brent Headrick entered and struck out pinch-hitter Jose Siri. He then got Oswald Peraza to fly out. The threat died. The lead held. Headrick has now stranded 38 of 42 inherited runners this season, a number that quietly ranks among the best on the staff.
Manager Aaron Boone framed the win as a full-roster effort rather than a two-man show, pointing to the many small contributions that stacked up.
“That’s everyone doing a little something tonight,” Boone said.
Jones, who has forced his way into the October conversation, kept the focus on how the early lead shaped everything that followed.
“Scoring in the first in any game, especially a game bouncing back after a loss, is huge,” Jones said. “Just being able to play with a lead for the majority of the game and bring the offense early is big for the team.”
Chisholm, who homered right behind Jones, made clear how the clubhouse views the young outfielder’s surge.
“[Jones] is a great player, he’s a great kid,” Chisholm said. “We’ve heard about him for years and now he’s getting a chance to show it. I’m really happy for him.”
Headrick’s escape rate in one-run spots a Yankees treasure
Across the past two Yankees games, every runner Cole handed to the bullpen in the sixth inning was stranded. On Monday and Tuesday combined, New York’s relief corps did not allow a single inherited runner Cole left behind to score, even as the Angels pushed the tying run into scoring position twice in this game alone.
That detail reframes the sixth-inning concern. The Yankees are not yet paying for Cole’s late fades because the bullpen keeps sealing the door behind him. Headrick’s 38-for-42 mark on inherited runners is the machinery making that possible. It is also a thin margin to rely on through October, which is exactly why the pattern matters now rather than later.
The win reshaped Yankees’ wild-card math
The result carried weight beyond one game. New York improved to 79-60 and stayed 4½ games behind first-place Tampa Bay in the American League East, with 23 games left. The Rays won too, so the Yankees gained no ground in the division.
The payoff came from Boston. The Red Sox lost, which pushed the Yankees four games clear of them for the top AL wild card. In a tight postseason race, that cushion is the kind of separation a September night is supposed to deliver.
The offense did its part around Cole. Jones went deep for the second straight night and is batting .348 with a 1.044 OPS over his past 15 games. Cody Bellinger collected three of the Yankees’ 14 hits. Trent Grisham, buried in a 2-for-42 slump, fouled off two bunt attempts before roping an RBI single in the eighth. Paul Goldschmidt added a sacrifice fly.
Boone also worked in newcomer John Schreiber, claimed off waivers from Kansas City. The late insurance runs let the manager rest closer David Bednar and hand Schreiber the ninth. He retired the side in order in his Yankees debut. Mike Trout, meanwhile, went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, snapping a 13-game hitting streak against New York.
Grayson Rodriguez (4-6) took the loss for the Angels, who have dropped nine of 11 and played their first game since Kroenke Sports & Entertainment agreed to buy a controlling interest in the club from Arte Moreno.
The Yankees send Cam Schlittler (12-6, 2.09 ERA) to the mound Wednesday night against Angels left-hander Reid Detmers (4-8, 3.54) in the series finale. Cole’s next turn, and whether the sixth inning bites again, will wait for another night.
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
