Gerrit Cole pitched for the New York Yankees for the first time since the 2024 World Series on Friday, making his season debut against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Cole threw six scoreless innings, allowing two hits with three walks and two strikeouts. His return came at an ideal point for the Yankees, who went into the weekend’s three-game set trailing the Rays by 4.5 games in the American League East.
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Initially, Cole looked like he might have a difficult start, allowing a leadoff single to Chandler Simpson and walking Junior Caminero. However, he regained some footing with a Jonathan Aranda flyout to left field. Then Simpson helped Cole out by getting picked off second base.
With a chance to get out of the first inning with no damage, Cole looked like the pitcher who won the 2023 AL Cy Young Award by striking out Yandy Díaz on three pitches. He hit 99 mph with a fastball sandwiched between 97 mph sinkers.
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Yankees manager Aaron Boone did not indicate if Cole was on a pitch limit. Presuming he was, the Rays didn’t make him work deep into counts. Cole only took four pitches to get through the fourth inning.
The Yankees also helped Cole out with some good defense. Aaron Judge prevented an extra-base hit by Cedric Mullins in the second inning with a diving catch in right field. And in the fifth, Mullins was again thwarted after a one-out single. Nick Fortes followed up with a pop-up to second base, but Jazz Chisholm Jr. let the ball drop so he could get the faster Mullins off the bases on a force-out.
Austin Wells gave Cole a 1-0 lead — and possibly broke out of his May slump — with a fifth-inning home run, jumping on a first-pitch sinker in the middle of the strike zone from Nick Martinez. Wells came into Friday’s game batting .111/.184/.111 for the month with no extra-base hits, saddling him with a season slash average of .165/.287/.252.
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Cole, 35, missed the entire 2025 MLB season after undergoing Tommy John surgery last spring. He touched 98 mph with his fastball during spring training. In six rehab starts before his return, he notched 28 strikeouts and three walks in 29 innings while compiling a 5.28 ERA. His rehab assignment began on April 17.
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