Gerrit Cole shines in return from COVID, Yankees win yet another tight game

These Yankees just can’t make things easy on themselves.

Even in a game where they took the lead in the bottom of the first inning, the Yankees made their 2-1 win over the Angels a nail-biter. Runners left on base, double plays and the inability to rough up the opponents’ bullpen kept things close but the Yankees ultimately got their 13th win in their last 16 games.

Joey Gallo crushed his third home run in three days, following his two-homer effort on Saturday with the decisive blow in Monday’s game. Gallo was not with the Yankees when they previously faced Jose Suarez, the pitcher who shut them down in long relief the last time the Angels descended on Yankee Stadium. His presence was certainly felt this time, though, as he made some magnificently loud contact against Suarez in the very first inning.

Making the bleacher creatures roar at his home runs is something Gallo has taken an early liking to.

“Especially after last year, every home run with any crowd there is a little more exciting,” Gallo said. “You can feel the difference and the energy in the stadium. Every day in the clubhouse, every day on the field there’s a certain energy. Every pitch counts.”

Some of that energy is coming from the enormous Italian-American delegation in New York that has immediately embraced Gallo, even hoisting Italian flags from their seats.

“I remember coming here with the Rangers and thinking this would be a cool place to play for me because I’m Italian and the fanbase is really Italian here. I saw that flag waving and it makes me proud. I just ordered a shirt that says ‘Italian Stallion’ on it with me and Rizzo. I thought it was too good to pass up.”

Gallo’s feat of strength — a 412-foot, 112 mile per hour speedball — erased the deficit that Justin Upton created. The veteran slugger lifted a home run of his own in the top of the first, but as has been the norm for the Angels’ big boppers, there was not enough help from his teammates. Granted, his teammates aren’t usually facing Gerrit Cole, but the visitors’ offense nevertheless had a tough day at the office. Asked if he carried any extra adrenaline with him in his first start since July 29, Cole was very straightforward.

“No, I was a bit prepared for if I didn’t really know where the balls were going to go. I felt good out there. I’m pretty tired to be honest,” he said after the game.

Making his first start since contracting and recovering from COVID-19, Cole pitched beautifully for 5.2 innings. He registered nine strikeouts and passed out one walk, holding the Angels to just one hit after Upton demolished his knee-high fastball. The Angels swung and missed at 16 of his 90 pitches (17.7%), an encouraging sign for a pitcher that Aaron Boone insisted before the game wasn’t on a firm pitch count, even if he did walk that back a bit from the postgame podium.

“He’s an ace, and he’s great at what he does,” Boone grinned. “Frankly I was probably hoping for four or five innings from him. He was real pitch-efficient yet his stuff was good and he was getting the strikeout ball as well.”

Cole should have gotten through six complete innings but he was betrayed by Rougned Odor. The natural second baseman, who was handling third base on Monday, made an error on an Upton grounder that would have ended the sixth.

Instead, Boone went to Zack Britton to get the final out of the frame. With the go-ahead run at the plate in the form of All-Star first baseman Jared Walsh, it was a big spot to give to Britton, the languishing lefty who recently asked to be removed from the closer role.

Britton had the luxury of facing a same-handed hitter, though, and the bullheaded pitcher showed why he strikes out a quarter of all lefties he faces. Walsh went down swinging on a slider out of the zone, stranding what turned out to be the Angels’ final base runner until Walsh’s jam sandwich went for a single in the ninth.

Albert Abreu took the baton from Britton and got two of his four outs via the K. Boone then again went to a mid-inning pitching change, bringing in Joely Rodriguez to deal with the Angels’ most bellicose bat.

Shohei Ohtani strode to the plate, his team trailing by one in the eighth inning at Yankee Stadium. It was the type of moment that Ohtani relishes, and the perfect opportunity to give Major League Baseball the glittering highlight they crave from their most unique superstar. Rodriguez upstaged the Japanese polymath, though, using an excellent pitch sequence to freeze Ohtani on a two-strike sinker.

With the inning-ending strikeout, Rodriguez was not subject to the three-batter minimum. He was able to close the book on his outing — his sixth straight without letting in a run — and set up Chad Green for a three-out save. Green was lights out against the Angels’ two through five hitters. Walsh’s fortunately placed bleeder didn’t hurt him and Green ended a game that really should not have been so close.

“I definitely think this can be a springboard going forward,” Green said after the save. “It’s no secret that we’ve struggled at times to close games out, to have clean innings, to get out of some big situations. But hopefully tonight’s that step in the right direction.”

A win is a win, and it’s undoubtedly a step in the right direction given what comes next. Now the Yankees can set their sights on their three-game series with the Red Sox that could change the entire trajectory of the season’s final month and a half.