Gerrit Cole is currently having an excellent season, as evidenced by his record of 8 wins against a single loss and his earned run average of 2.64.
And last night’s (Tuesday) game against the Seattle Mariners was no exception. The right-hander allowed just one earned run in seven-and-a-third innings and struck out eight batters in the New York Yankees’ 3-1 win.
His confidence has been palpable on the hill since the start of this campaign. To the point that he even responded to his opponents who were trying by all means to get him out of his comfort zone yesterday.
All night, second baseman Jose Caballero tried to annoy Cole with an attempted clock manipulation.
Caballero was trying to trick Cole into looking at him, then not looking at him again, just before the eight-second time limit to face the pitcher elapsed. If a gunner starts their swing before the batter pays attention and with eight or more seconds remaining on the clock, an autoball is called.
To send him a message in the seventh inning, Cole threw a ball high into the backstop behind home plate with a count of no balls and two strikes. A few pitches later, he completed the job with a strikeout.
He then gave the batter a long look before pointing to the Mariners dugout in retaliation for manager Scott Servais’ comments to him. Alek Manoah would have been proud of him.
There were no outbursts, but it shows how confident Cole is in his abilities this season. If it’s this version of the pitcher that we see at the fall dance, the Yankees could go a long way. If the rest of the team does their part, of course.
