HARDLY SEEMS FAIR
Rusty Phillies have little chance against Cole, hot-hitting Yanks
Like everything else this year, it wasn’t exactly as Gerrit Cole imagined it. The Yankees’ new ace said back in February he was excited about his first chance to wear the iconic, pinstripe uniform. It took more than four months, because of a global pandemic, but Cole made his Bronx debut Monday night.
The right-hander was fine, picking up his 19th straight victory as the Yankees beat up on the Phillies, 6-3, in a rain-delayed game.
The game had to be rescheduled from last week, when the Phillies were shut down for a week because they had been exposed to several Marlins players who tested positive for the coronavirus.
It marked the seventh straight win for the Yankees (8-1), who now hold the best record in the majors.
“Look, obviously excited with the start and with the record and you know the fact that I feel like we’re playing good baseball,” Aaron Boone said. “But even though it is a shorter season, it’s a long way to go.”
It was the ninth straight game with a Yankee home run — Monday they hit three.
DJ LeMahieu, Brett Gardner and Gio Urshela each homered for the Yankees, who have muscled up 20 home runs in their first nine games.
“I feel like I’m getting in good hitters counts, taking some good pitches and not always obviously getting the results that I would want, but you know, just continue to work and continue to go out there and have fun,” Gardner said. “With this group of guys that we have it’s hard not to have fun.”
Aaron Judge saw his streak of five straight games with a home run snapped, but he singled, doubled and scored a run.
That was enough for Cole against a Phillies team that had not played a game since July 26 because of the Marlins COVID 19 outbreak. He did not have his swing-andmiss stuff Monday night, but with a rusty Phillies lineup he gave up one run on five hits over six innings of work. He walked a batter and struck out four. Former Met Jay Bruce homered off Cole in the third inning.
“I’m just trying to execute
pitches and I felt like more often than not, we executed pitches and we got in a position where you had to challenge some guys and we did,” he said. “We got fortunate.”
In this 60-game sprint of a season, Cole and other pitchers are still feeling their way into it.
“I think what he’s showing you right now is just how good a pitcher is, you know, kind of still finding his way a little bit, but I’m excited about where he’s at,” Boone said. “He was pitch efficient.” It was Cole’s 19th straight win, dating back to May 27, 2019 with the Astros. He has now gone 25 starts without a loss. His win streak is the longest since Jake Arrieta went 20 with the Cubs in 20015-16.
Monday night, it was Arrieta making his season debut for the Phillies, who played just three games before their season was paused. The Phillies had no players test positive after their series with the Marlins, but were shut down for seven days, underwent everyday testing and were told to isolate at home.
“I’d like to give a lot of credit to the Phillies as well. I mean, they caught a tough break. I am pretty close with a couple of guys in their clubhouse ... and we know that it’s been a grind for them,” Cole said. “So I thought they came out and I thought they came out with some edge and they came out aggressive and they put some good swings on the ball.”