NEW YORK — The Yankees waited 19 months for Wednesday. They signed the left-hander in December 2024 to stand beside the right-hander they already had, and then watched surgery and a bone bruise keep the two men from ever taking a mound on the same day.
A rainout finally forced the issue. A split doubleheader put both on the schedule, hours apart, in front of a combined 84,354 fans in the Bronx.
The pitching was everything the Yankees front office had imagined when it wrote the checks.
The problem was everything happening between the innings they worked.
Gerrit Cole and Max Fried combined for 12 innings, 18 strikeouts and one walk in their first shared day in pinstripes, a $542 million rotation finally arriving. The Yankees scored in two of the day’s 18 innings and needed all of it to salvage a split.
Cole was nearly perfect, and it was not enough
Cole opened the Yankees matinee against the club that drafted him first overall in 2011 and retired the first 14 batters he faced. He struck out eight in that stretch and walked nobody all afternoon.
The Yankees ace’s bid ended in the fifth on a Nick Gonzales single. Jacob Gonzalez followed with a two-run homer to right, and Gonzales added a solo shot in the seventh for a 3-0 Pittsburgh lead.
Cole finished with seven innings, 11 strikeouts, four hits and no walks, generating 21 swings and misses. It was his 29th double-digit strikeout game as a Yankees ace, a franchise record, and his most strikeouts since August 2023.
Ben Rice rescued the day briefly with a three-run homer in the seventh, his 30th of the season and fourth most in the majors. Before that swing the Yankees were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and had stranded seven.
Fernando Cruz, pitching on his third day in four, gave it back in the 10th. He walked Marcell Ozuna, then allowed run-scoring singles to Jared Triolo and Jake Mangum in a 5-3 loss before an announced 43,290.
Fried returns and looks like himself
The nightcap belonged to Fried, activated off the injured list without the second rehab start the Yankees had planned. Pitching for the first time since May 13, he threw five scoreless innings on 57 pitches, allowing one hit and one walk with seven strikeouts.
The velocity answered the medical question. Fried touched the fastest pitch of his season and averaged better than 96 mph, up from 94.7 before the injury that manifested as diminished velocity. The Yankees ace retired his final 12 batters and lowered his ERA to 2.97.
Fried had to confirm the club was serious when it floated the idea during Tuesday’s rainout. He described the return in simple terms afterward.
“This is my favorite thing to do,” Fried said. “Being out for the last couple of months, it’s really tough. But coming out, giving us a chance to win and getting back out there and feeling the energy, it felt normal.”
Cole, who had waited through his own lost Yankees season after Tommy John surgery, framed the day as overdue.
“I missed him all year,” Cole said of Fried. “We played keepaway I guess so far this year, and so it’s a good day. … It’s nice that it’s finally come to fruition for sure. A little bit too long for both of our tastes.”
The lineup that keeps disappearing
The offense produced almost nothing around them. The New York Yankees managed six hits and struck out 12 in the opener, finishing 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
In the nightcap, Pirates rookie Bubba Chandler arrived with a 4.77 ERA and the highest walk rate of any starter in baseball, then threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings on two hits and one walk.
The Yankees have failed to score more than five runs in 27 of their past 29 games, a stretch defined by the absences of Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton.
Boone did not soften the assessment after the opener, pointing at chances the lineup let pass early.
“We had a couple of chances where I think we had a couple of runners on base early and just couldn’t do anything with it,” theYankees skipper said. “Just not a good enough day for us offensively.”
Two swings in the seventh save the series
The Yankees breakthrough came in the seventh inning of the nightcap, against the Pittsburgh bullpen. Cody Bellinger drew a one-out walk off lefty Brandon Eisert, and Jasson Dominguez doubled down the left-field line to score him from first.
Anthony Volpe followed by lining a first-pitch slider to center to score Dominguez, making it 2-0. Both hits came with two outs.
Paul Blackburn protected it with two scoreless innings and three strikeouts after Volpe’s defensive miscues put runners on the corners, and Tim Hill retired Ryan O’Hearn on a groundout to end it.
The 2-0 win gave the Yankees the series, two games to one.
A rotation coming into view
The Yankees moved to 57-45 and sit 2.5 games behind Tampa Bay in the AL East, with Carlos Rodon set to throw a side session Friday and Cam Schlittler already anchoring the group.
Boone acknowledged the day’s split verdict, encouraged by the arms and unsatisfied with everything else.
“We have high hopes this year,” the Yankees manager said, “and those are two of the big reasons why.”
New York is off Thursday before opening a three-game series in Philadelphia on Friday, with Will Warren facing Jesus Luzardo. The rotation the Yankees paid for has finally reported for work. The lineup has not.
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