Gerrit Cole is taking a simple approach for how he can make his second start of the season better than the first.
“Maybe a strike the first pitch of the game would be great,” Cole said, referencing the four-pitch walk he issued to Red Sox leadoff hitter Enrique Hernandez on Opening Day.
“At least get into a better rhythm sooner, settle in sooner and go from there.”
Cole’s rhythm appeared to be thrown off before he even threw a pitch Thursday, as he was visibly agitated by the pregame ceremonies bleeding into his own routine.
But the Yankees right-hander was able to reel in his season debut before it went completely off the rails — he gave up three runs in the first inning before rebounding with three shutout frames — and now he’s hoping to settle in from the first pitch Wednesday against the Blue Jays. He is still building up his workload after a shortened spring training, but should have some more room to work with than the 68 pitches he threw over four innings against the Red Sox.
Yankees ace Gerrit Cole reacts after letting up a single to Xander Bogaerts in the first inning on Opening Day. Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post“I just had a lot of adrenaline and just kind of spun my tires there for a minute,” Cole said Tuesday at Yankee Stadium.
Cole will be tasked with doing that against the loaded lineup that the Blue Jays present. He faced them five times last season and posted a 3.72 ERA across 29 innings, when they still had Marcus Semien but did not yet have Matt Chapman.
Likely to see plenty of the Blue Jays — who were widely projected to win the division — this season, Cole did not downplay the importance of racking up wins against the Yankees’ AL East foe early.
Gerrit Cole delivers a pitch during Opening Day. Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post“Even though we play them 19 times, we only play them 19 times,” Cole said. “So they count the same in April as they do in September. Having to crawl back and feel like we’re walking uphill towards the end of the year— you put yourself in a better position when you play better against these teams early, with the understanding that both [teams] are going to get better as the season goes on.”
The Yankees faced that cautionary tale with another division rival last season, when they started off 0-7 against the Red Sox before beating them in six straight games to end the season series — needing every last one to claw into the playoff picture.
But the 2022 schedule offered the Yankees an immediate temperature check, opening with series against the Red Sox and Blue Jays — a challenge Cole was embracing.
“When you’re trying to be the best … the top-notch competition is really the position we want to be in,” he said.
While preparing for Wednesday’s start, Cole took notice of how teammate Jameson Taillon worked against the Blue Jays on Monday night. Taillon limited them to two runs over five innings, using an approach that Cole hopes to mirror.
“A couple times they put him in a spot with a base hit early or an extra-base hit with two outs, and he just kept his pace and kept making one good pitch after another and ended up getting rewarded for it,” Cole said. “Not really, because we lost, but he gave us a good shot to win and put together a good start. I think all our best games have that same characteristic where it’s just one pitch at a time regardless of if something good or bad happens. You just gotta stay in the middle.”
