The New York Yankees arrived in Kansas City for a three-game series and left having outscored the Royals 26-4 across the sweep. Fourteen straight wins over Kansas City. A rotation that is starting to look genuinely dangerous. And at the center of Wednesday night’s 7-0 clincher, Gerrit Cole looked like himself again.
Fully, unmistakably himself.
Cole Dominates in Second Start
GettyGerrit Cole of the New York Yankees.
Cole struck out 10 batters across 6 2/3 scoreless innings, scattered just four hits, and did not issue a single walk. He dialed his fastball up to 98 mph for a called strikeout in the fifth and had command of his full arsenal from the opening pitch. After walking three batters in his season debut against Tampa Bay, Wednesday featured just two three-ball counts all night.
Manager Aaron Boone did not hold back in his assessment. If the first start was encouraging, this was something else entirely.
“I just thought we were watching excellence,” Boone said. “I don’t want to overstate it or understate it. It was just an excellent, efficient, surgical outing where I thought he had a little bit of everything going.”
It was Cole’s second consecutive scoreless outing since returning from Tommy John surgery, covering 13 1/3 innings combined. He was capped at 79 pitches as the Yankees continue building him back carefully, but he made every one of them count.
Aaron Judge added his voice to the Cole admiration after the game, focusing on what it took for the Yankees ace to return from major surgery and look this sharp.
“He’s one of the greatest to ever do it, and you see it with starts like this, where you come back from a major surgery and it looks like he hasn’t even skipped a beat,” Judge said.
Judge also contributed with his arm, throwing a runner out at the plate in the third inning to keep the shutout intact.
How the Yankees Won
The offense did its part as well. Ben Rice got things started with an RBI triple in the fourth before scoring on a Judge sacrifice fly. Paul Goldschmidt and Rice each collected two hits, and Ryan McMahon capped the scoring with a two-run homer in the eighth. The three combined for six RBIs on the night.
Cole, Cam Schlittler, and Will Warren combined to allow just three runs across 18 2/3 innings in the series. As a collective statement from a rotation that was missing Cole for over a year, that number is significant.
What It Means for the Yankees
GettyGerrit Cole of the New York Yankees.
New York improved to 34-22 and hold second place in the AL East. The rotation now heads into a weekend series against the Athletics with Carlos Rodon and a surging Ryan Weathers lined up for the first two games. Max Fried remains on the injured list but is expected back at some point this summer.
And if Cole continues to look like this, the Yankees’ ceiling suddenly looks a lot higher than it did a week ago.
Final Word for the Yankees
Two starts. Thirteen and a third scoreless innings. Ten strikeouts on Wednesday alone.
Boone called it surgical. It was hard to argue. The Yankees swept the Royals and Cole looked like the pitcher they have been waiting for all season.
The rotation is getting whole. The rest of the league should take notice.
Like HEAVY’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
The post Yankees’ Aaron Judge Drops Powerful Gerrit Cole Quote After Royals Sweep appeared first on HEAVY.