Yankees' late collapse costs Gerrit Cole his 11th win of season

MIAMI — Gerrit Cole was well on his way to his 11th victory of the season Sunday.

Until he wasn’t.

Cole, who wasn’t as dominant as he’s been in so many of the outings that have made him one of the favorites for the American League Cy Young Award, left after six innings with the Yankees leading Miami 7-2. But Keynon Middleton allowed a run in the eighth and Clay Holmes had a disastrous ninth as the Marlins walked off the Yankees, 8-7.

That left Cole with a no-decision after allowing two runs, six hits and two walks in six innings. It was the 19th time in 24 starts that he allowed two or fewer runs.

“It was a tough one today,” he said. “Just have to flush it and get back [to] the process. We have a tough series coming up, so as a player, you just have to have a short memory in this series and try to prepare for Atlanta as quickly as possible.”

Cole, who owns the second-lowest ERA (2.76) in the AL, threw 99 pitches. “I felt like they were working the pitch count a little bit,” he said. “I was pretty frustrated with the two walks, but for the most part we made good pitches. Had some contact go their way, had some contact go our way, but just a solid overall day.”

DJ good to go

DJ LeMahieu, a last-minute scratch from Wednesday’s game against the White Sox because of right calf tightness, arrived at the ballpark late Sunday morning feeling good enough to play.

As a precaution, he did not start the game against the Marlins, but he was available off the bench and fully expects to be in the lineup Monday night in Atlanta. “In my mind, [I] was ready to go today,” LeMahieu said.

LeMahieu said the calf started acting up before Wednesday’s series finale in Chicago.

“I just felt it moving around before the game. Just taking swings in the cage, I felt it,” he said. “It just kept grabbing on me. It’s calmed down now.”

LeMahieu entered Sunday hitting a disappointing .240 with eight homers and a .688 OPS this season. He has been better of late, hitting .324 with a .777 OPS in his last nine games.

Hot-Lanta

Not only will the Yankees be playing in scorching heat Monday through Wednesday, but their task will be doing so against Atlanta, which brings MLB’s best record into the series.

“They’re a heavyweight,” Aaron Boone said before Sunday’s game. “They obviously have a tremendous, tremendous lineup. A number of guys in the middle of great campaigns. Probably about as good an offense as you’re going to come across. We know we’ll have our work cut out for us.”

Atlanta, which scored 21 runs in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader sweep of the Mets at Citi Field, came into Sunday leading the majors in homers (225) and runs (678).

Off you go

Assistant hitting coach Brad Wilkerson was ejected in the eighth inning by plate umpire James Hoye after Anthony Volpe was called out on strikes. Wilkerson, in his first season with the Yankees, was ejected two times as a player for arguing third strikes.