05/22/26 08:04:00
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05/22 20:02 CDT Gerrit Cole pitches 6 shutout innings for Yanks after 569-day
absence, returning from elbow surgery
Gerrit Cole pitches 6 shutout innings for Yanks after 569-day absence,
returning from elbow surgery
By RONALD BLUM
AP Baseball Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --- Yankees ace Gerrit Cole pitched six shutout innings in his
return from elbow ligament reconstruction that caused a 569-day absence,
leaving with a 1-0 lead against the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night.
A 35-year-old right-hander who had surgery in March 2025, Cole allowed two hits
and three walks while walking two. He threw 50 of 72 pitches for strikes,
starting 18 of 22 batters with an offering in the strike zone.
A six-time All-Star and the 2023 AL Cy Young Award winner, Cole was unusually
sharp for a pitcher coming off a long layoff. He needed just 11 pitches in the
third and fourth innings and retired 10 in a row during one stretch.
He averaged 96.1 mph with 35 four-seam fastballs, reaching a high of 98.6 mph
in the first. He mixed in 13 sinkers, 10 sliders, eight changeups and six
knuckle-curves.
Cole picked off a runner to help escape first-inning trouble and showed emotion
when he screamed after throwing a full-count fastball past Jonathan Aranda for
a called third strike in the fifth.
Austin Wells backed him with a fifth-inning homer off Nick Martinez.
With a few days of stubble on his face, Cole warmed up to the Rolling Stones'
"Gimme Shelter," then crouched on the infield grass just behind the mound and
concentrated on the dirt. He then used his new overhead hand movement in his
windup, adopted during his rehab.
Cole kept up his energy by munching on bananas in the dugout between innings.
Chandler Simpson took a 95.9 mph called strike starting the game, then blooped
an opposite-field single to left-center on another fastball and advanced when
Junior Caminero walked on a full count. Aranda flied out, Cole picked off a
dancing Simpson at second and Yandy Daz took a sinker for a called third
strike.
Cole worked around a one-out walk in the second, then retired the side in order
during a seven-pitch third and again in a four-pitch fourth. He retired 10
straight batters before Cedric Mullins' fifth-inning single.
Cole had not pitched a big league outing that counted since Oct. 30, 2024, in
Game 5 of the World Series, when the Los Angeles Dodgers overcame a 5-0 deficit
with five unearned runs against Cole and took the title.
He went for tests after allowing a pair of home runs in his second spring
training start in 2025, against Minnesota that March 6, and had reconstructive
elbow surgery five days later.
Cole made a pair of one-inning spring training starts this year on March 18 and
24, then began minor league rehab outings on April 17. He had a 4.71 ERA in 28
2/3 innings, allowing 28 hits while striking out 28 and walking three.
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