Yankees and Gerrit Cole not worried about Subway Series starting

Tuesday’s opening of the latest edition of the Subway Series was far from what the Yankees It is Gerrit Cole were waiting.

Last season’s AL Cy Young winner made his second start since the start of the year on the IL with shoulder and elbow issues, but after pitching five innings in his first start of 2024, the Yankees ace was unable to last that long in your 9-7 loss to the Mets.

Cole pitched just four innings, giving up six runs on seven hits (four home runs, the most he’s given up since 2022), four walks and didn’t walk a batter — the second time he’s done that in his career.

“Disappointing,” Cole said of his departure after the game. “It didn’t give us a good chance to win tonight. He didn’t make good enough shots and dug a hole for us.”

Many of the postgame questions were about Cole’s health. Easy questions to ask, considering Cole’s fastball was apparently 1-2 mph slower than his usual 96-97, especially after the first inning.

The Mets stripped Cole of yards three times off the ace’s fastball and he worked hard in his four innings, throwing 72 pitches but just 44 for strikes.

However, Cole says his decreased velocity after the first 28-pitch inning was intentional.

“It’s a bit like driving a car,” he said. “Too much or too little clutch can throw you out of gear. [The fastball] It was tremendous in the first one, but we had to make a lot of shots, but we weren’t in the strike zone enough and that cost us 28 shots. You’re trying to get as deep into the game as possible.”

“I thought he did well in the first round”, coach Aaron Boone said of Cole. “Velo was there and taxed him obviously. ..he was dialed. He was loosening up a little and reduced it in the second and couldn’t find the location against a team that was swinging the stick well and made him pay for two there.

Cole said he feels “really good” physically and believes he has nailed his progression so far. He pointed out that this is the first time he’s thrown 28 pitches in an inning, the first time he’s reached 98 mph on his fastball and surpassed 70 pitches.

“I feel really good about that,” Cole added. “Under the umbrella that this was a very difficult night and I didn’t give us a chance to win.”

Aaron Judge, whose grand slam cut the Mets’ lead to 9-7 in the eighth inning, said he isn’t worried about Cole after Tuesday’s performance. He called these last two games Cole’s “extended spring training” and that he is getting back into shape on the move. When asked if he agreed with Judge’s assessment, Cole said it was “fair” and explained how this is especially true in the case of sequencing.

“Seeing the way people regularly react to the ball in the major leagues helps your instincts and I don’t get a lot of reps in that regard,” he said. “I arrived too late [with sequencing] and my execution was bad, so I never gave myself the chance to learn anything, to hit a dirty ball or to make mistakes…[Some of] these fields were in relatively good areas, but the problem is that they are ready for these fields and situations.”

The Yankees (52-29) have now lost seven of their last 10 games and will look to snap their two-game losing streak when they face the Mets on Wednesday night at Citi Field.