Cole returns – Gerrit Cole looked sharp in his first major-league start in 569 days, allowing two hits over six shutout innings. The Yankees, however, wasted a 1-0 lead and fell 4-2 to the Rays, who improved to 4-0 against New York this year.
NEW YORK — Gerrit Cole crouched behind the mound, stared at the dirt and tried to hold the moment still. After 569 days away from a big-league start that mattered, this one was finally here.
“Just let it rip downrange and see what we got,” the New York Yankees ace thought to himself.
Cole delivered six shutout innings in his return from elbow ligament reconstruction surgery, allowing two hits and leaving with a 1-0 lead. That lead didn’t hold. New York slipped to a 4-2 loss to the major league-best Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night.
“It was almost like a second debut,” said Cole, 35. “It was nice to get back in the fire.”
Cole hadn’t pitched a big league outing that counted since Game 5 of the World Series on Oct. 30, 2024. He underwent reconstructive surgery the following March 11. then worked his way back through a rehab path that included two spring training outings this year and six minor league rehabilitation starts beginning April 17.
“Some ups and downs, for sure. A long road,” Cole said. “And yet at some point tonight it was almost like I had never left.”
With a few days of stubble on his face, Cole warmed up to the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter.” Catcher Austin Wells set the tone before first pitch.
“Let’s go swing the rock around,” Wells told him. “Have fun.”
The numbers backed up the confidence. Cole averaged 96.1 mph with 35 four-seam fastballs, topping out at 98.6 mph in the first. He mixed in 13 sinkers, 10 sliders, eight changeups and six knuckle-curves. Over 72 pitches, he threw 50 for strikes and began 18 of 22 batters with an offering in the strike zone.
“It was lovely,” Cole said.
Chandler Simpson singled to lead off the game, and Junior Caminero drew a walk, but Cole kept the damage to a minimum. He retired Jonathan Aranda on a flyout, picked off Simpson at second and got Yandy Díaz to take a sinker for a called third strike.
Early command was there, too. Using a new overhead hand movement in his windup that he adopted during his rehab, Cole needed just seven pitches in the third inning and four in the fourth. He retired 10 in a row during one stretch.
“It was great to have our ace back in the mix,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “He did a lot of game management things really well.”
Rays manager Kevin Cash noticed something beyond the stat line.
“He looked healthy to me,” Cash said. “He’s as special as there is.”
Between innings, Cole even reached for a banana to keep his energy steady. The routine matched his composure: he struck out two and walked three, including Richie Palacios after four balls that followed a first-pitch strike, and Taylor Walls on four straight balls.
Against the high-contact Rays, Cole induced just five misses among 31 swings.
“The command was good enough. It was hard to trust some off-speed pitches there early,” Cole said. “Controlled the zone well and sequenced well. Brought ourselves room inside the strike zone and beside some lapses in control kept pressure on the opposition throughout the at-bats.”
Still, Cole wasn’t satisfied.
“There’s probably some opportunities to get a little further outside of the strike zone, but at the same time, knowing that that might not be as crisp as it has been before,” he said.
While Cole joined a rotation that includes Carlos Rodón, Cam Schlittler, Will Warren and Ryan Weathers, the Yankees were also dealing with their own shifting pieces. Cole took the spot that opened when Max Fried went on the injured list because of a bone bruise in his left elbow.
Wells backed Cole with his first home run since April 28, a fifth-inning drive off Nick Martinez, giving New York the 1-0 lead that still looked safe when Cole exited.
But the Rays changed the rhythm late. José Caballero was back at shortstop after missing 10 days because of a broken finger. In the eighth, Caballero let a Simpson one-hopper bounce off his glove leading as the Rays turned it into the first real crack in the Yankees’ control.
Tampa Bay then surged: Aranda delivered an RBI double, Palacios followed with a two-run single on a comebacker off the glove of leaping reliever Tim Hill, and Ryan Vilade added a sacrifice fly. The Rays burst ahead and held on.
Tampa Bay improved to 4-0 against New York this year.
At the plate, Yankees captain Aaron Judge went 0 for 4 and ended the game with a flyout to the centre-field warning track with a man on against Bryan Baker. Judge is in a 1-for-24 slide that dropped his average to .245, and he has gone a career-high 11 games without any RBIs.
Cole will take another step toward full normalcy next week at Kansas City.
During the long rehab, he said he’d thought about the night of his return. When it finally arrived, it matched the script in a way that surprised even him.
“It was kind of what I imagined it would be,” Cole said with a smile.
For six innings, it almost looked like the Yankees never missed him. Then baseball did what it always does—turned a perfect return into a reminder that one night can still end in pain.
Gerrit Cole New York Yankees Tampa Bay Rays World Series elbow ligament reconstruction Austin Wells Aaron Boone Kevin Cash Max Fried injury Kansas City next start Aaron Judge slump