After rain, Cole likely to throw to Kyle today

With two weeks and three days left in this season, the Yankees are desperate to get the Gerrit Cole they signed to a nine-year $324 million last winter. So far, in nine starts, the 30-year-old right-hander has been good. He just hasn’t been the dominant Cy Young candidate that the Yankees had to face the last two years and went hunting for in the free agent market.

So before Thursday night’s game was postponed by rain, the Yankees again switched the catchers for him. Backup catcher Kyle Higashioka, a favorite of the analytics department, was scheduled to be behind the plate for the second straight Cole start. It will likely be the same battery when Cole starts thefirstgameofamake-updoubleheaderon Friday.

Gary Sanchez, whose defense is criticized by both the analytics and scouting departments, had caught Cole’s previous eight starts. Sanchez was the designated hitter Thursday night.

AaronBoonewasquicktosayHigashioka has not become a “personal catcher” for Cole.

“I like the pairing, but I’ve liked the Gary and Cole pairing too,” the Yankees manager said quickly when asked about the change in catching assignments. Boone said that it was part of smoothing out Sanchez’s return after getting benched for poor offense. “So it’s a little bit a result of Gary coming back to catch two, and getting in late obviously last night (from Buffalo) and trying to get at-bats back for Gary to try and get him going.

“So, I felt like today was a good DH day and then with Higgy and Cole coming off, where they just faced the Orioles, so we’re kind of game-planned up for these guys. I just felt like it was a good move to get those two back together for the second time in six days against the same opponent.”

There are some in the organization that think it’s a good idea to keep them paired up — even though it was hardly a smashing success the first time. Cole was brilliant for five innings with Higashioka, who he has known since they both played travel baseball in Southern California as teenagers. And then it was a brutal meltdown.

Cole was charged with five runs, only one earned in the sixth inning of the Yankees’ 6-1 loss to the O’s. He could not overcome a Miguel Andujar error, ended up walking two and also had his fastball squared up and hit hard.

But maybe the issue isn’t behind the plate. Cole is 4-3 with a 3.63 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 52 innings heading into Thursday’s night’s game. A red flag that has been consistent is the power numbers against him. Cole has allowed 13 home runs in 52 innings, over nine starts. In 2019, he allowed just 29 in 212.1 innings over 33 starts. Another concern is that while his strikeout rate is still impressive at 32.8%, it is down from 39.9% last season. Also, the exit velocity allowed against him has increased from 87.6 miles per hour to 91.3, which is among the bottom 10% of all pitchers.

“I think just some of the mistakes he’s madehaveturnedintoslug,whereguyshave hit the ball out of the ballpark in some big situations,” Boone said. “I feel like he’s really close to being the best pitcher in the game.”

But it was just five innings. Last season, Cole pitched at least seven innings in almost half his starts (15 times). This year, he has done it once.

And his sixth inning cost the Yankees the game.

Cole, who had a 20-game winning streak end last month, has not won a game in his last four starts. Even worse, the Yankees are 0-4 in that stretch, which helped contribute to their slide of winning just six games in their last 21. It’s one of the many reasons they head into this series with the Orioles nipping at their heels for third place in the American League East and the final AL Wild Card spot.

And this isn’t the usual September game against the Orioles.

In this coronavirus pandemic-shortened, 60-game season, the Yankees are fighting for their postseason lives now.

The Orioles took three out of four from the Yankees last weekend and are just a game and a half back for the last AL Wild Card spot, which the Bombers are currently clinging to.

Coincidentally, Yankees principal owner Hal Steinbrenner, who signed off on Cole’s record-setting deal for a pitcher, was scheduled to be in the ballpark to see his struggling team.