Gerrit Cole deals, Harrison Bader and Anthony Rizzo go deep as Yankees top Guardians in ALDS opener 

After a rickety beginning, Gerrit Cole was up to the moment after all.

The Yankees $324 million ace, viewed skeptically all season by the fan base after a massive egg laid in last year’s AL wild-card game loss to the Red Sox and this season, in which he allowed a career-high 33 homers, delivered when the team he grew up rooting for needed it.

Cole, whom the Yankees debated in private not giving the ball to in the Division Series opener against the Guardians, overcome some early traffic on the bases to throw 6 1/3 mostly dominant innings in a 4-1 victory in front of a rocking Stadium crowd of 47,807.  

“It was very special for me,” Cole, now 3-1 with a 3.38 ERA in five career postseason starts as a Yankee, said of the thunderous ovation he left the mound to with one on and one out in the seventh. “Certainly felt it and appreciated it. I thought they were in every pitch tonight, and what a wonderful experience to have them behind us.”

The Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series, which inexplicably has an MLB-scheduled day off and continues not Wednesday when the weather forecast is dry, but Thursday, when the forecast is questionable at best.

Cole, 13-8 with a 3.50 ERA in 33 starts and a single-season franchise record 257 strikeouts, allowed one run, one walk and four hits, including a homer. The righthander struck out eight.

“He was in some trouble there [early] and kept making pitches,” manager Aaron Boone said. “You know, that was good to see him go out in the first Yankee home game in front of fans in the postseason and deliver that kind of performance.”

The Yankees were outhit by the light-hitting Guardians, 6-5, but got homers by Harrison Bader and Anthony Rizzo. The latter’s was a two-run shot off Cleveland righthander Cal Quantrill in the sixth inning that made it 4-1. Bader’s homer in the third tied it after Steven Kwan took Cole deep in the top half of the inning. Quantrill, brilliant early, faded later, allowing four runs (three earned) and four hits in five innings.

“Kwan puts a nice swing on Gerrit's pitch, and then we answer right back at the bottom of the inning,” Rizzo said, more highlighting Bader’s blast than his own. “That was a big early test for us. It definitely was a boost.”

A Yankees bullpen full of questions entering the postseason – and which took a hit earlier in the day with the announcement that righthander Scott Effross would be lost for the rest of 2022 because of an elbow injury that will require Tommy John surgery – took it home. Jonathan Loaisiga and Wandy Peralta got the ball to Clay Holmes, who pitched the final two-thirds of an inning. Holmes hit pinch hitter Owen Miller with his first pitch of the night, but pinch hitter Will Benson grounded to first and Myles Straw flied to center to end it.

Cole labored through a 24-pitch first inning, stranding a runner at second and stranding  another runner at second in a 15-pitch second inning.

Cleveland took the lead in the third when Kwan took a 2-and-0, 97-mph fastball into the seats in right for a 1-0 lead. Cole loaded the bases with one out but, in perhaps the key sequence of his night, got Oscar Gonzalez to ground into a 5-2 force, then struck out Andres Gimenez swinging at a slider. Cole, suddenly settled in, then came back with a 1-2-3, eight-pitch fourth, an inning in which rookie Oswaldo Cabrera reached into the first row of seats in left to record the out on Brennan’s foul ball down the leftfield line, then Josh Donaldson – who had an eventful night overall – went to the dirt to stop Austin Hedges' ground smash.

“He had a real quick fourth inning, that kind of got him back into the game where he was able to actually go out for the seventh,” Guardians manager Terry Francona said. “We had a real good opportunity with bases loaded and didn't cash in, so that doesn't help. But he's got pretty good stuff. I mean, you watch the game, he's got velocity. He spins the ball. Pretty tough to get a beat on him.”

The night took on extra special meaning for Cole as his dad, Mark, who grew up a Yankees fan in the Syracuse area and passed his love of the pinstripes down to his son, celebrated his birthday Tuesday.

“It was just a really awesome experience overall,” Cole said. “Just sometimes when you feel the crowd or the energy, it sometimes can become a little easier just to quiet things down because it's so loud. I don't know if that makes sense, but it does to me. I mean, just what a great atmosphere. It was my dad's birthday today, so it was a good day.”