Gerrit Cole solid, Aaron Judge goes deep as Yankees down Blue Jays
Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, right, celebrates his two-run home run with teammate Juan Soto during the first inning of a game against the Blue Jays in Toronto on Sunday. Credit: AP/Frank Gunn
TORONTO — Better.
Not yet Cy Young Award-caliber for Gerrit Cole, but much, much better.
The righthander, coming off a disastrous outing against the Mets — a start made all the more alarming because of a precipitous drop in velocity — bounced back big Sunday.
With his fastball velocity holding steady and peaking at 98 mph, Cole controlled the Blue Jays over five innings of an 8-1 Yankees victory in front of 38,534 at Rogers Centre, a game that featured Aaron Judge’s 31st homer.
“It was a good day,” said Cole, who made his third start after coming off the injured list. “There was a conscious effort to hone in the command a little bit, making sure we’re giving ourselves a chance over the plate. But that’s part of the buildup process. As you keep getting stronger and keep getting going, you’re going to have to tinker here and there. Certainly isn’t where it needs to be, but it was definitely improved. Pretty close.”
Cole, who allowed six runs — including four homers — in four innings in a 9-7 loss to the Mets, gave up one run, three hits and a walk Sunday in picking up his first 2024 win. The 2023 American League Cy Young Award winner, who did not record a strikeout Tuesday at Citi Field, struck out six Blue Jays.
“That was Gerrit out there,” Aaron Boone said. “I felt like he had great presence to him, like that kind of quiet intensity, but also very much in control of the game in his rhythm. I thought his stuff was good. I thought he had a good curveball going today and the heater was good.”
The Yankees (54-32), who returned Juan Soto to the lineup after a one-game absence with a bruised right hand, outhit the Blue Jays 12-4. Judge, Gleyber Torres, DJ LeMahieu and Trent Grisham each had two hits, with the latter three each picking up one of the Yankees’ five doubles.
Judge went 2-for-4 with a 423-foot two-run homer to centerfield in the first inning that gave Cole a 2-0 lead before he threw a pitch. (The Yankees had allowed the opposition to score first in the previous 10 games, eight times in the first inning.)
In his last 48 games, Judge has 25 homers, 62 RBIs and a .391/.502/.941 slash line. Just past the halfway point of the season, he leads MLB in homers and RBIs (82) and, at .316, is a point behind MLB leader Luis Rengifo of the Angels in batting average.
“It’d be cool, but it’s not my focus,” Judge said of winning the American League Triple Crown, which he made a run at during his 2022 MVP season. “Like a lot of guys in this room, we don’t play for stuff like that, we play to win. Any time you put on the pinstripes or the ‘NY,’ you’re here to win. If that comes with it, that’d be great, but I think we’re all focused on getting a championship first.”
Soto, left out of the original lineup but added to it about 15 minutes before first pitch, lasered a single to right in the first against Kevin Gausman. Two pitches later, Judge gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead.
That put the Yankees ahead for good in a strange series in which they outscored the Blue Jays 24-6 in their two wins and were outscored 18-5 in their two losses.
“It was definitely a good shot of energy to help get us going,” Boone said.
Cole, with his fastball in the range of 94 to 96 mph in the opening inning after seeing it dip into the low 90s against the Mets, allowed a two-out single by the red-hot Vlad Guerrero Jr. but got Justin Turner to line out to end a 14-pitch first inning.
LeMahieu’s RBI single in the second made it 3-0 and Soto drew a bases-loaded walk for a 4-0 lead.
The Blue Jays (38-45) got one off Cole in the third on Turner’s RBI single. The inning was more memorable for a 2-and-2, 97-mph fastball that got away from Cole and clipped Guerrero, 8-for-16 with three homers and 10 RBIs to that point in the series, on the right hand.
After a delay of several minutes, Guerrero stayed in the game. Cole, who has said Guerrero is among the hitters he respects most in the game, waited on the mound to make eye contact with the first baseman, who eventually looked toward him. Cole nodded at Guerrero, who nodded back.
Though Cole hitting Guerrero clearly wasn’t intentional, with Judge due up in the fourth, the expected happened as Gausman drilled him in the hip area with a 2-and-0, 95-mph fastball. Judge, never looking at Gausman and in an almost you’re-not-worth-my time manner, trotted to first base.