Cole’s biggest career start awaits at Yankee Stadium
NEW YORK — Gerrit Cole has erased hitters in Seattle, St. Louis, Arlington, Cincinnati, Oakland and Anaheim.
Since May 27, when Cole’s absurd 18-game winning streak began, the cool but fiercely competitive power righthander has made professional batters appear lost and overmatched in Cleveland, Milwaukee and Kansas City.
But can Cole, currently the best pitcher on the planet, do it here?
In Game 3, which will immediately swing this American League Championship Series and could place the Astros two wins away from a return trip to the World Series.
In the big Bronx stadium that the Yankees built again, with the glaring
lights, waving flags, proudly screaming fans and repackaged history.
On the biggest stage the future $200 million man has ever taken.
“It’s incredible to play here. I mean, it’s a blast. This is the big stage. This is a big stadium,” manager A.J. Hinch said Monday night inside Yankee Stadium, after the Astros’ planned workout was canceled partly because Game 2 was so crazy.
“It’s rowdy from the first pitch on. It will bring some adrenaline out of you,” Hinch said. “(It) doesn’t take a lot of time to get ready for these games, because you show up to the ballpark, there’s a buzz immediately. This is a real atmosphere. The Yankee uniform is historic. We know that. But we deserve to be on the field with them. We’ll take it to that point, and then we just play the game.”
Cole, 29, never made it past the Division Series when he was a Pirate. Since joining the Astros in January 2018 via a relatively under-the-radar trade that turned out to be a blockbuster and is still sending shockwaves through MLB, his new club has advanced to the Championship Series in back-to-back seasons.
The last time Cole took the mound in the ALCS, it didn’t go very well. He gave up six hits and five runs (four earned) in six innings while walking two and committing a throwing error. Boston evened the 2018 ALCS 1-1 inside Fenway Park via a 7-5 victory that ultimately became four consecutive Red Sox wins and the end of the Astros’ season.
Justin Verlander did the job in Game 1 at Fenway. Cole was off in Game 2. Boston claimed its first win and never looked back.
Cole said a lot Monday. He recalled his old Yankee Stadium memories, being drafted by New York in 2008, and his favorite players, Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera. But when Game 2 of the 2018 ALCS was mentioned, the Astros’ co-ace said little.
“A couple pitches over the plate that (the Red Sox) were able to use the wall,” Cole said.
His ALCS Game 3 setting is more stacked in 2019.
Thanks to Carlos Correa’s hero shot 4 hours and 49 minutes into Game 2, the Astros flew north with a 1-1 series tie. More importantly, Hinch’s squad was still 100 percent alive in October. Even with the Yanks hosting the next three contests, the Astros will initially hand the ball to a righty who has been ridiculous for almost five months.
Cole went 20-5 with a 2.50 ERA, 0.89 WHIP and 326 strikeouts in 212 1⁄3 regular-season innings. Then he smoked those crazy numbers against Tampa Bay, winning both of his ALDS games, pitching the Astros into the ALCS against the Yankees, and beginning this October with this: 2-0, 0.57 ERA, 0.57 WHIP, and 25 strikeouts in 15 2⁄3 innings. As I said earlier, absurd. “We expect to have success. We know it’s going to be tough,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Four o’clock game, the shadows will probably play an issue as well and make it difficult. But hopefully as a group we can have some success against him, whether that’s wearing him down a little bit, whether that’s taking advantage of a couple of mistakes that we do get.”
Minute Maid Park has turned Cole into Houston’s newest baseball hero. Standing ovations. Extended roars. The home crowd cheering and cheering, then cranking the master volume knob to 11. Cole tipping his cap, saluting the fervent believers and soaking up the best run of his career.
Things are done a little differently in New York.
Zack Greinke will likely receive the warmest old-fashioned Yankee salute. But Game 3 was a big one 24 hours before the first pitch, and Cole will have to overcome the smallest and biggest things Tuesday to continue his personal winning streak.
“A lot of good memories in this ballpark,” Hinch said. “Obviously, ’15 and the Wild Card Game was the kick-start of our return to relevance. And this team starting to learn how to win and how to win big games and play our first playoff environment as a group. ’17, some really hard-fought games. We lost out pretty late in a couple of those games. I remember winning the series. That was the most important thing.”
Cole has started 192 regularseason games and seven postseason contests. Only one of the 199 has been inside Yankee Stadium. His line as a second-year Pirate in 2014: six innings, seven hits, three runs, one home run, eight strikeouts and, most importantly, a victory.
Correa changed this American League Championship Series with one huge swing in the 11th inning of Game 2.
If Cole owns Yankee Stadium, Game 3 will ring out even louder for the road team.