Mets bullied Gerrit Cole and the Yankees, and Aaron Boone isn't happy about it
Yankees starting pitcher Gerrit Cole throws his mitt into the air after the Mets’ Tyrone Taylor hit an RBI single during the sixth inning of an MLB game at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Gerrit Cole was the Yankees’ last hope to salvage something from the 2024 edition of the Subway Series.
Pride. Dignity. His manager’s sanity.
Well, maybe next year.
Because Wednesday night, in the Subway finale, Cole was just another pinstriped bowling pin to be knocked down by the marauding Mets, who clobbered the reigning Cy Young winner for three homers in a 12-3 victory to complete a four-game season sweep.
The embarrassing defeat was the Yankees’ 22nd loss in 32 games, a steep dive that finally sent manager Aaron Boone over the edge. Peppered with questions about his team’s epic failure over the past six weeks, when just about everyone not named Aaron Judge and Juan Soto have been vastly underperforming, Boone fired back with a few expletive-laden responses.
“Nobody has higher expectations than us in that frickin’ room,” Boone said, his voice rising. “. . . This has gone on long enough. It’s very frustrating to go through, but I also know we’re competing. . . . We just got to make sure that we continue to walk in with the right level of edge and willingness to compete because no one’s going to pull us out of this but us.”
Cole certainly couldn’t do it Wednesday night. Rather than their $324 million ace pitching like a stopper, what the Yankees got instead was a shockingly similar repeat of the June 25 beatdown at Citi Field, where Cole served up four homers (over four innings) in the Mets’ 9-7 win. While that was easily explained away as a rusty Cole’s second start since coming off the IL — equating to April for him — he had no such excuse for Wednesday’s clunker, which was rendered non-competitive by the time he walked off the mound with two outs in the sixth inning.
“I’m frustrated — frustrated sitting in the emotions of this loss,” said Cole, whose ERA is 5.40 through seven starts. “But our job is to flush it and not let the play of the last six weeks affect the way we prepare for the next game.”
But does the prolonged and persistent losing spur any doubt in the clubhouse?
“I don’t think we have a lot of doubt in here,” Cole said.
Cole was supposed to be at the peak of his powers for the Mets rematch. He had a combined 1.50 ERA in his two previous starts, a pair of wins over the Orioles and Rays, along with 15 strikeouts over 12 innings. His fastball velocity was back to normal, his stamina up, his pitching arsenal fully functional.
None of that mattered to the Mets, however, as they used Cole for batting practice. He allowed a season-high eight hits, and the six runs matched the same total Cole surrendered last month in Flushing — also his most in a start this season. It was only the second time in his career that Cole had served up three or more homers at Yankee Stadium, the other being in 2022 against the Mariners.
As grisly as those numbers were for Cole, the Mets’ aerial assault was spectacular to watch. The .228-hitting Tyrone Taylor, down in the No. 9 spot, struck first by ambushing Cole on a high fastball above the strike zone, launching a 399-foot homer deep into the leftfield bleachers in the third inning.
Pete Alonso followed the next inning with a two-run blast, jumping on a first-pitch cutter for a long homer that landed in the same ZIP code as Taylor’s shot. Next was Francisco Lindor, who smacked the first of his two home runs in the fifth, also drilling a first-pitch cutter that sailed into the rightfield second deck (estimated distance: 385 feet).
That was it for the Mets’ fireworks off Cole, but not the end of his frustration. Already staggered by the sixth, Cole got ripped by Taylor again for an RBI-single, his third hit against Cole. After Taylor lined that 98-mph fastball into center, the exasperated Cole flipped his glove into the air as snapped his head back.
It might as well have been a white flag. The flying mitt served the same purpose. Afterward, his ace humbled and his Yankees reeling, Boone kept on the defensive, insisting they would get through what he repeatedly calls a rough stretch.
“We know we got to be better, OK?” Boone said. “ . . . We got a lot of pride in there. We have a lot of expectation in there. ‘Stretch’ . . . ‘Slump’ . . . ‘Recent’ . . . I don’t give a (expletive). We got to play better the rest of the way . . . We got to go play baseball the way we’re capable of playing. And it’s on all of us — starting with me — in that room.”
And is Boone happy with these Yankees’ ability to do that?
“Absolutely,” he said. “Its no fun going through it. I know how hard this freaking game is. You take your lumps and it sucks, especially when you know what you’re capable of. It can be rough, but no one’s going to feel sorry for you, especially when you wear this uniform.”
The question is how much longer some Yankees will be wearing it. And if this losing continues, like it did against the Mets, there needs to be some changes.
Big ones.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
