Speaking of 'lucky,' Gerrit Cole and Yankees were fortunate in Game 1 win

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Talk about getting “lucky.”

Much was made of Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s “they just got lucky” comment after the Yankees' 4-2 loss in Game 2 of the American League Division Series that tied the best-of-five at one game apiece.

The remarks were, to a degree, taken out of context as Chisholm’s larger point was his teammates scorched several balls hard in the defeat, those balls more often than not finding the gloves of Royals defenders.

Except …

The Royals easily could have made the same claim after their 6-5 loss in Game 1, rocketing baseball after baseball off Gerrit Cole, who will start Game 4 Thursday night, with little to show for it.

For instance, the first five balls hit by the Royals that night came off the bat in excess of 100 mph – they had eight in all – and mostly came up empty.

Cole grinded his way through five-plus innings – throwing 80 pitches in the process – and allowed four runs (three earned), seven hits and two walks. A line, if not for, well, some luck, that would have been far worse.

“I’m excited to see him go back out there, I’ll tell you that,” Aaron Boone said before Wednesday night’s game. “He usually processes stuff really good. And any time he’s challenged in a way, he usually answers the bell. So I feel like he’ll make the necessary adjustments. But, again, it’s an execution game. He executes, you’ve got a really good chance of shutting them down.”

Cole, also speaking Wednesday, did not delve too much into his Game 1 outing and any adjustments on the horizon.

“We played outstanding defense, which allowed us to minimize some of the damage,” said Cole, pulled in Saturday night’s sixth inning after allowing a leadoff single to Yuli Gurriel (a former teammate of his with the Astros). “Threw enough strikes, we were efficient enough to get into the sixth inning. Probably Aaron [Boone] wasn't obviously thrilled with me continuing to pitch the sixth, and so be it. If you want to keep going, you've got to be sharper. But put ourselves in a good position to be in the ballgame, to win the ballgame, and to get into the ballgame deep. Looking to sharpen up some of the things that kind of hurt us, and looking to continue just to be as efficient as possible and give our team the best chance to win.”

The Royals, unlike many teams in the game, are not a swing-from-the-heels-for-homers club.

“They don't walk much and they don't strike out much, so the ball is in play a lot,” said Cole, who struck out four in Game 1. “It's a different challenge. It's the way they're formulated. It probably bodes well for them in a large park here. They have a lot of team speed and a lot of contact. I don't know if it's a conscious thing or if they just ended up with these players and they're making the best out of the talent that the players have.”

“Each lineup poses different threats,” Cole continued. “I'm not sure I can rank which threat is better or worse because the bottom line is you're trying to score runs, which they do very well. They're here for a reason. They're really good.”

The pitcher said his approach won’t be any different whether the Yankees are facing elimination – which would be the case with a loss Wednesday night – or with a chance to close out the series – the case with a win on Wednesday.

“It's pretty simple for me, my goal is to go out there and try to put us in a position to win the game, and whether we lose tonight or win tonight, that game is still a game that we're trying to win,” Cole said. “We're trying to win all of them. It doesn't really change the importance at all.”

As for Chisholm’s comments, the Royals didn’t make much of them.

“I don't worry about it,” catcher Salvador Perez, likely a future Hall of Famer, said on Tuesday. “What's the next question?”

Royals manager Matt Quatraro acknowledged his players at some point before leaving the ballpark Monday night became aware of what Chisholm said, but couldn’t characterize their reaction.

“It wasn't something that they … I mean, they heard it,” Quatraro said. “I can't speak for every single one of them, if they reacted to it, but it wasn't something that was like, ‘oh, everybody has got to hear this’ kind of thing.”

Cabrera back at 1B

The Yankees went with utility man Oswaldo Cabrera at first base in Game 1 and Jon Berti, a more veteran utility man, in Game 2. Cabrera was back in the lineup for Game 3.

“A lot of confidence in Oswaldo,” Boone said. “(Defensively), obviously a lot of confidence wherever I put him on the field. I thought he handled himself really well in Game 1. It was one I deliberated on yesterday a little bit but felt good about Oswaldo being the guy.”