NEW YORK — Gerrit Cole shook off rare control problems to pitch four-hit ball over seven innings and give the Yankees their most dominant stretch of starting pitching in 89 years, leading New York over the Chicago White Sox 7-0 Saturday for a five-game winning streak.
Cole (6-2) allowed four singles in seven innings, struck out seven and walked as many as three for the first time since Aug. 31. Rebounding from his worst outing this season, he lowered his ERA to 1.81 and ended the day with a 100.8 mph fastball that Andrew Vaughn took for a called third strike, Cole’s fastest pitch this season and the fourth fastest of his big league career.
Cole extended the scoreless streak by Yankees starters to 30 innings.
“They’ve been terrific,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Obviously, this run they’re on right now is really impressive.”
Following Corey Kluber‘s no-hitter at Texas and outings by Domingo German against the Rangers and Jordan Montgomery in Friday night’s series opener, Cole gave the Yankees four straight starts of seven shutout innings for the first time since May 11-16, 1932 (Johnny Allen vs. the St. Louis Browns, George Pipgras and Red Ruffing vs. Chicago, and Lefty Gomez vs. Cleveland).
“It’s a lot of fun to play behind guys when they’re throwing the ball the way they have in the last few days,” Yankees center fielder Brett Gardner said.
Cole’s lack of control was unusual. He walked five in 57⅔ innings coming in and had a record streak of 61 strikeouts between walks. He leads the Yankees with 92 strikeouts through 10 starts.
“I thought we had some good pitch selection early, even though I wasn’t quite as sharp as I wanted to be,” Cole said. “I made some pitches in some good spots to get ground balls, and I think we just settled in, a little more concise, efficient with the delivery.”
Justin Wilson and Luis Cessa finished the five-hitter, the Yankees’ major-league-leading eighth shutout. They have eight shutouts in the first 46 games for the first time since 1958.
New York has outscored opponents 13-1 in the past four games and clinched its seventh straight series win, moving a season-high eight games over .500 at 27-19. The five-game winning streak matched the Yankees’ season high and made them 22-9 since a 5-10 start.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Credit: Source link