Yankees miscues, bullpen spoil Gerrit Cole's season debut in 4-2 loss to Rays
Gerrit Cole looked like his Cy Young self, but a four-run eighth inning propelled the Rays to a 4-2 win over the Yankees on Friday night.
After 569 days between outings in the major leagues, Gerrit Cole returned Friday night and looked a lot like vintage Cole. Well, with fewer strikeouts than usual. Still, Cole was excellent, throwing six shutout innings in his comeback from Tommy John surgery.
He got close to 99 miles per hour on the radar gun and gave the Yankees and their fans every reason to believe their ace is indeed back and at least close to his full powers. The Yankees’ other returning player -- José Caballero -- didn’t fare quite as well. Caballero was back at shortstop in place of Anthony Volpe, but made a key error in the eighth inning to help the Rays start a game-tilting four-run rally.
Tampa Bay ended up with a 4-2 victory in front of 41,358 at Yankee Stadium. The Yanks’ loss dropped them to 30-22 on the season and they are 5. 5 games behind the first-place Rays (34-15) in the AL East.
The Rays are 4-0 against the Yankees so far this year. Here are the takeaways... -Cole might not have been missing bats the way he has throughout his career – he only induced five swings-and-misses, according to Statcast.
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