Cole bears down vs. former club to pad Cy Young case

PITTSBURGH -- To say that the Yankees’ game vs. the Pirates on Friday night was out of the ordinary would be an understatement.

Gerrit Cole issued an unusual amount of walks to begin his start, but he found his groove after a couple of innings to give another solid effort in his quest for an American League Cy Young campaign. Then, the Yankees struck in the ninth inning for four runs in an odd fashion.

After a bases-loaded walk by Estevan Florial pulled them within a run, Anthony Volpe chopped a ball to shortstop for a potential game-ending double play, but a throwing error sent home the winning run in a 7-5 victory at PNC Park.

Aaron Judge gave the Yankees a go-ahead RBI with a single in the sixth, but the Pirates tied the game on a scary line drive off Anthony Misiewicz's head in the bottom of the inning, then added on. However, Pittsburgh reliever Colin Holderman faltered, allowing two singles and a walk to load the bases with no outs in the ninth.

After Florial trotted to first to force in a run, Volpe stepped to the plate with one out and took strike one. On the second pitch, he put it in play, and Florial made what might have been a pivotal baserunning decision. He charged through the second-base bag standing instead of sliding to make an easier throwing lane for Bae.

It’s hard to say for sure that it forced the error, but it definitely helped disrupt the play. It was also a decision manager Aaron Boone said the Yankees were lucky worked out.

“That’s not the play we want to do that on, with two outs,” Boone said. “It was actually a mistake, because if [Florial] makes contact with him there, they can call it a double play. So I think we got a little bit fortunate there.”

As for Cole, he walked the first two batters he faced on 14 pitches, then afforded a single to Ke’Bryan Hayes to load the bases with no outs. The righty got into the zone against the next two batters to induce two flyouts, including a sac fly, before walking Endy Rodríguez on six pitches. With the bases loaded a second time, former Yankee Miguel Andujar struck the first pitch he saw hard to deep center field, but not far enough for a slam as Florial tracked it down.

Friday marked the first time this season Cole has walked three batters in the first inning. In fact, three walks matched the season-high mark for a game for one of the league’s stingiest pitchers in terms of free passes. His 2.3 walks per nine innings is the fourth best in the American League.

“I was having trouble finding the strike zone,” Cole said. “Relatively liked them -- [they were] fine and competitive pitches -- but nevertheless outside the zone, and I thought the Pirates did a really good job of staying to the baseball and making good swings. It allowed them to get a lot of hits, and for the most part, [they were] really not expanding the strike zone at all.”

Pittsburgh produced three singles in the second inning vs. Cole, but it was clear his command was being cleaned up. After laboring for 51 pitches in the first two innings and allowing four hits, Cole completed his final three innings on 42 pitches, while striking out three and allowing just two hits. On a night it seemed like his ERA might take a hit, it jumped only from 2.79 to 2.81.

“Limiting damage was the key,” Cole said. “Even though it was six hits, it was six singles. I feel like in those situations, we just kept making good pitches with the fastball. Sometimes it got us into trouble, but it got us out of trouble, too.”

After the scene that unfolded when Misiewicz was struck by a 100.6 mph liner to his head in the bottom of the sixth inning -- on a play that put the Pirates ahead -- it would have been understandable for the Yankees to have trouble locking back in. But they were able to rally when they needed to, and it made the difference.

“It’s tough, obviously. Everyone handles that a little bit differently,” Boone said. “That’s sports, too. Part of that is you’ve got to be able to move on. Any time you see a teammate go down, or really anyone that you’re competing with or against, definitely a little difficult to transition.

"It’s somber, I know, for guys, but I thought we did an OK job of it.”