Cole’s healthy & looking like an ace
TAMPA — Gerrit Cole is feeling better. After getting rocked in his last Grapefruit League start, the Yankees’ $324 million man looked more like an ace on Tuesday. The right-hander struck out six over 3.1 innings of work. He allowed a run on two hits.
“Overall, I thought it was good. I thought we attacked the zone well. We made a lot of competitive pitches, kept the ball out of the heart of the plate for the most part, was able to put some good runs together two, three, four good pitches in a row,” Cole said.
Cole explained in his previous start he was a bit “hit and miss” when it came to stringing together quality pitches.
“It was nice to put a few sequences together today.”
Cole, who was sidelined by a cold before his last start, allowed six runs and four homers Thursday. He was much sharper on Tuesday. The run Cole allowed came after Gleyber Torres had the ball pop out of his glove in the first inning against the Blue Jays. Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s single plated the run.
Cole threw 55 pitches, 36 for strikes. He also used his change-up effectively a few times on Tuesday. It’s a pitch he is working on and thinks it may be more useful this season.
“I think it could be [useful] especially when the situation dictates it,” Cole said. “I’ll need to be sharp on my reads so that I’m convicted in the pitch, which we’re talking about with the catchers and trying to find a few more opportunities to sprinkle it in for sure.”
With catcher Gary Sanchez out with back soreness and a “little fever,” Cole worked with back-up catcher Kyle Higashioka. The two both grew up in Southern California and played on a travel baseball team together.
“Gary is sick today and so it was a good opportunity to work with Kyle, and I thought it flowed really seamlessly,” Cole said. “It is the first time that we’d work together in a game since we were like, 13, so it’s good.”