Gerrit Cole returned to the New York Yankees rotation after missing 569 days of major league action. This season, he debuted against division rivals, the Tampa Bay Rays, on May 22 and threw six scoreless innings. The Yankees need that version of Cole back on the mound, especially after Sunday’s disastrous start against the San Diego Padres. Following the loss, the Yankees’ skipper, Aaron Boone, addressed the ace’s shortcomings.
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The Yankees wrapped up their West Coast road trip with a 4-3 loss to the Padres. With Cole on the mound, they had a chance to close the gap with the AL-leading Rays. But the ace slipped in the first inning, allowing three straight homers to Fernando Tatis Jr., Jake Cronenworth, and Manny Machado. He put the Yankees in a 3-0 hole, leaving the offense to rally and erase the deficit. After the game, the Yankees’ manager evaluated the costly inning.
“A couple of missed spots,” Aaron Boone said, per the New York Post Sports on X. “Tatis put a long at-bat on him. Eventually got the hanging breaking ball there that stayed up enough and put a good swing on it. Cronenworth, you don’t expect to get beat to that side of the field, with slug. Probably didn’t get the ball to the corner quite how he wanted to, but good swing. “
Tatis Jr. and Cronenworth hit a pair of homers on opposite sides of the field, sparking the Padres’ offense. Tatis Jr. battled Cole for six pitches before sending the ball flying to the right on a 2-0 count. Cole threw a strike to Cronenworth, but the Padres player hit a homer before he could do any real damage.
The RHP’s plight continued as Manny Machado came up next to launch a solo shot of his own on a 2-2 count. He recorded the homer on an impressive 97 mph four-seamer. Among the first three batters, Cole came closest to striking out Machado after he got ahead on the count (0-2) initially. Ty France almost tacked up another long ball against the starter, but he flew out deep into the warning track, giving Cole his first out of the inning. Cole only fanned three all night.
However, he regained his footing and kept the Padres from scoring any more runs for the upcoming frames until the bottom of the seventh. Luis Campusano led off with a home run to extend the Padres’ lead.
When the Yankees pulled Cole after 7 innings, the team was trailing 4-0. Sunday marked Cole’s 19th start of the season. He has posted a 3.41 ERA with an 8-8 record so far. Gerrit Cole is under a nine-year, $324 million contract with the Yankees that runs through 2028.
Summing up the first inning, Cole said:
“They put really good swings on the ball. The curveball kind of squirted out to Tatis. Thought Machado took a great pitch out, unbelievable swing, and I thought Cronenworth took a pretty good 2-1 fastball and put a good swing on it.”
In MLB, pitchers have given up three straight home runs in the first inning of a game only twelve times. Cole is the only player to do it twice. The last time he allowed three straight home runs in the first inning was on June 9, 2022, against the Minnesota Twins. The Yankees overcame the early deficit to win that game, with Michael King pitching the eighth inning.
However, facing their former teammate, the Yankees could not achieve the same feat.
Michael King holds back the Yankees’ offense
The New York Yankees traded Michael King to the Padres to acquire Juan Soto back in 2023. Following his move, King transitioned into a full-time starter role. This is only the second time King has pitched against his former team.
During the series finale, King tossed 6 scoreless innings, allowing only 4 hits and 3 walks. King pitched out of every jam, including the bases-loaded one in the fifth, where Cody Bellinger flew out to end the inning.
“Disappointing we couldn’t get to him,” Boone told the New York Post about King. “We couldn’t get that big hit today to get back in the game in the middle of the game. I thought we had the right at-bats against him, we just couldn’t break through.”
The Yankees had a chance to mount a comeback after he left the mound. Facing southpaw Adrian Morejon, they rallied in the inning. Spencer Jones hit an RBI double to get the Yankees on the scoreboard. Pinch-hitter Amed Rosario followed with an infield single, scoring Paul Goldschmidt and Jones after Morejon committed a throwing error. The Yankees cut the deficit to one run, trailing 4-3. However, they could not capitalize, as Jose Caballero was thrown out trying to steal second, and Jasson Dominguez lined out to end the inning. Mason Miller then closed out the game without much trouble.