Gerrit Cole looked like he was building toward one of those nights at Yankee Stadium - the kind where the ball jumps, the fastball pops, and the opposing lineup spends the evening guessing wrong. For most of Thursday against the Houston Astros, that’s exactly what it felt like. Then, with two outs in the sixth, Aaron Boone shut it down at 78 pitches, and the finish turned from promising to puzzling in a hurry.
Cole had the kind of stuff that makes hitters look frozen. He was hitting 98 and leaving Astros bats staring, and the extra full week of rest since his last start in Baltimore didn’t seem to dull anything.
Early on, the life on his pitches was obvious. But the outing wasn’t spotless.
He missed badly on the 0-2 pitch to Isaac Paredes, couldn’t finish Daulton Varsho on 0-2 in the sixth, and then left Christian Walker a hanging pitch that turned into a unicorn home run and had Cole burying his head in his towel.
Still, the larger question is simple: what about that outing said he had to be pulled before he could even get past 80 pitches?
He started Taylor Trammell’s at-bat at 78 and got him on a first-pitch liner, so there was at least a clean ending to the inning available. Boone didn’t see it that way.
He seemed to read the moment as Cole emptying the tank, and that’s where the head-scratching starts. With a crucial four-game Boston series ahead and a doubleheader on the horizon, plus a bullpen that has been running on fumes, the move felt even harder to square.
The whole night had a strange arc. At first, Cole looked like he might go deep into the game.
Instead, the start became a short-lived flash of dominance that ended abruptly. Boone’s call left plenty of people wondering why the leash was so short.
The confusion didn’t stop there. After the game, the Yankees also dropped their weekend pitching probables, and the announcement came with two TBD starters for Saturday’s doubleheader.
The club had already said it would wait to see how Max Fried came out of his Thursday throwing session before deciding whether he could go Saturday, which made sense. What didn’t make much sense was announcing the probables before that information was settled.
The absence of Carlos Rodón from the initial picture only added to the unease, especially since the order of those starts matters for how many arms can be saved for the back half of Game 1.
In the end, Boone wasn’t burned for removing Cole early. Yerry de los Santos gave them an inning, Justin Topa handled two, and David Bednar never had to pitch in the series - he was used just once against the Blue Jays. So the bullpen got at least one night to breathe.
But the hook still raised the bigger question hanging over the whole evening: was Cole truly done, or did Boone sense the kind of frustration that can push a pitcher into overdoing it? Cole, for his part, probably would have kept going. And maybe that was exactly what Boone was trying to prevent.
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Yankees Just Added A Former Mets Prospect Fans Never Expected
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Kelenic has continued to show he can hit in the minors, even if that success has not yet translated into consistent results in the majors. For the Yankees, the appeal is less about an immediate big-league role and more about adding an experienced outfielder who could help the RailRiders as they push toward the postseason, while leaving open the question of whether there is still another step left in his career path. [Read more 🡒]
Yankees Suddenly Have An Internal Answer To A Messy Infield Decision
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Roderick Arias may have given them an internal option worth watching. The prospect has shown better offense and enough defensive flexibility to handle both second and third base, which gives the Yankees a possible path if they want to reshape that side of the diamond for 2027. It is still early, but for a club trying to balance present contention with future stability, Arias has quietly become part of the conversation. [Read more 🡒]
Yankees Fans Can Already Laugh At Boston's Adley Rutschman Gamble
Bostons bid to land Adley Rutschman has already turned into a rough early return for a move that cost the Red Sox a haul of top prospects, including Harold Rivas as the player to be named later. Rutschman was supposed to help stabilize the middle of the lineup while bringing his well-regarded defense behind the plate, but the offensive side has not come close to matching the price Boston paid.
Since the trade, Rutschman has struggled badly at the plate, hitting .133 in 45 at-bats and posting a weak overall line that has only sharpened the scrutiny on the deal. The glove still gives Boston something to point to, but with the bat not following and the prospect package already out the door, this is the kind of gamble Yankees fans can enjoy watching from a distance. [Read more 🡒]