Gerrit Cole dominates in victory over Orioles

Last Sunday against the Padres, it was pretty much just the four homers that did Cole in, and he was quite good after giving up three in a row to start the game. Today, though, he was just crushed throughout. 14 of the 18 balls in play he allowed were hard hit, and he generated only three whiffs on 40 swings. The Yankees have to be fairly concerned at this point. He’s given up 20 homers in 115 1/3 innings on the season. In his last full year in 2023, he allowed 20 homers in 209 innings while taking home AL Cy Young honors. Cole will next face the Diamondbacks in Arizona on Friday.

Fernando Tatis Jr., Jake Cronenworth and Manny Machado homered to start the bottom of the first. It was the 12th time ever that a team opened a game with three straight homers. Cole was also responsible for one of the previous 11 against the Twins in 2022. The fourth run today also came on a homer from Luis Campusano in the seventh. Cole allowed only two other hits and walked none. He settled for three strikeouts, but he did have 12 whiffs on 47 swings. He threw a total of 24 pitches over the final three innings and 84 pitches overall. In all, it was a pretty reasonable outing, though it did result in him falling to 8-8 with a 3.41 ERA. He’ll face the Mets next weekend.

Cole tossed two scoreless innings before the Angels put a run on the board on two hits in the third. He’d settle in to pitch into the sixth, recording one out and giving up two more runs on three hits before he was replaced at 90 pitches. He struck out five. The 35-year-old right-hander ends the day with a 3.29 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, and a 110/22 K/BB ratio across 104 innings into a start against the Rockies in New York next Tuesday.

Cole held the Jays scoreless through the first five innings but ran into some trouble in the sixth inning. He allowed a leadoff single to Brett Bateman to begin the frame, and a fielder’s choice by George Springer two batters later brought in the first run of the night for the Jays. Alejandro Kirk would double on the next at-bat to bring home Springer, giving the Jays the 2-1 lead. It’s a tough way to pick up a loss, as Cole did more than enough to position his team to pick up the win in this one. He’s allowed one earned run or less in each of his last four starts and is next scheduled to face the O’s on Thursday in Baltimore.

Cole stranded two baserunners through four scoreless innings before running into some trouble in the fifth. The Braves brought two runs in on four straight hits to start the inning. Cole would settle down, striking out two of the last three batters to get out of the jam. He gave the Yankees two more scoreless frames, ending his day after seven innings with nine strikeouts in an excellent performance. The 35-year-old right-hander will take a 3.35 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, and an 87/17 K/BB ratio across 80 2/3 innings into a start against the Blue Jays in Toronto on Friday.

The only run Cole allowed came in the fourth on an RBI single by Michael Busch. The right-hander did have some control issues with three free passes, but he worked around them with five strikeouts in another impressive outing for the 35-year-old. Cole has allowed just one run over his last two starts, and he’ll take a 3.42 ERA into a scheduled start against Atlanta. This isn’t vintage Cole, but it’s certainly effective.

Cole struck out seven over those six scoreless, and he allowed just four hits and a pair of walks while throwing 60-of-99 pitches for strikes. The 35-year-old veteran didn’t have the same swing-and-miss stuff he did against the Pirates when he whiffed 11 in his previous outing, but he was even more effective while lowering his ERA to 3.57 in the process. Cole has not pitched like a fantasy ace for the majority of 2026, but he has over his last few outings. He’s scheduled to face the Cubs on Sunday and will look to continue this impressive run.

Cole bested his previous season high in strikeouts by one. He got 21 whiffs on 53 swings and recorded eight strikeouts with his fastball, which had a 45 percent CSW on the day. Cole was in line for the loss when he threw his final pitch, but the Yankees came back and scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to tie things up. As a result, Cole remained 3-5 with a 3.92 ERA and an excellent 66/12 K/BB ratio through 62 innings. He’ll likely face the White Sox on Monday.

For six innings, it seemed as if Cole was going to start the second half with a statement. It took him just 90 pitches to get through those six innings and he was in complete control throughout. Then, he walked Mookie Betts to start the seventh and missed with a few fastballs during that at-bat which he wasn’t missing with earlier. Max Muncy came up next and launched a two-run homer after a seven-pitch battle that sullied Cole’s outing and put him in line for the loss. There’s still a ton to be positive about after this start, like Cole’s thirteen total swings-and-misses with his fastball, slider, changeup, and curve each forcing multiple. It just sullied his outing when manager Aaron Boone tried to push him through that seventh inning. He’s scheduled to face the Pirates at home next time out and it’s likely he pitches better than his 3.93 ERA from this point forward.

Cole will be followed by Ryan Weathers on Saturday and Cam Schlittler on Sunday. The 35-year-old hurler had a solid first half in his return from Tommy John surgery, posting a 4.04 ERA, 1.20 WHIP and a 47/11 K/BB ratio over 49 innings of work through his first nine starts.