Yankees, Gerrit Cole have to be pleased with his return to mound
Yankees starting pitcher Gerrit Cole delivers against the Tampa Bay Rays during the first inning at Yankee Stadium on Friday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Aaron Boone didn’t “want to overdo it,” but no one could blame him if he did. After all, it had been nearly 19 months — 569 days, to be exact — since Gerrit Cole last pitched in an MLB game.
So yes, Boone was “really excited to get our ace back” after Cole’s “long road” recovering from the Tommy John surgery performed in March 2025 that kept him out for all of last season. And really, everyone in Yankees Universe was ecstatic, too — especially after Cole’s outing was finished.
Facing the American League-best Rays on Friday night in his first big-league start since Oct. 30, 2024 — the Dodgers’ World Series-clinching Game 5 win at the Stadium — the 35-year-old righthander certainly resembled the pitcher who won the 2023 AL Cy Young Award unanimously.
Cole — who described the night as “almost like a second debut” — allowed no runs, two hits and three walks with two strikeouts in six shutout innings in front of 41,358 who savored his return at Yankee Stadium (though it was in a 4-2 loss as Tim Hill was charged with four runs in the eighth).
“It’s a little bit like riding a bike,” Cole said. “Same old thought process: compete, go pitch to pitch, take it one pitch at a time and give it everything you got.”
Cole threw only 72 pitches — 14 fewer than the 86 he threw in 5 2⁄3 innings in his final rehab outing with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last Saturday — and 50 strikes. Boone said there was no consideration to pitch him in the seventh, and Cole said it was a “smart play.”
Cole retired 15 of the final 17 batters he faced and exited in line for the win. The Yankees (30-22) led 1-0 after six innings, thanks to Austin Wells’ fifth-inning homer.
After the Rays’ four-run eighth, Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s two-out RBI triple in the bottom of the inning cut Tampa Bay’s lead to 4-2. With two outs in the ninth and Wells on second, Aaron Judge (0-for-4) hit a 106.6-mph, 396-foot flyout to the warning track in left-centerfield.
Regardless of the loss, the significance of the night and the journey back to the Yankees was not lost on Cole.
“Some ups and downs, for sure,” he said. “A long road, and yet at some point tonight, it was almost like I had never left. So it felt really, really good to be out there. It was a really special night. My boys were excited, and obviously preventing runs at a strong clip kind of puts the cherry on top.”
Said Boone: “I’m sure he was carrying a lot of emotions with him out there, and he was on point.”
Boone noted before the game that there’s “probably that added layer” of excitement in the clubhouse with Cole’s return. Wells, who caught Cole, mentioned how anticipation for his return had been “building up.” He was at spring training and in and out of the clubhouse between rehab starts.
“Tonight was a great start for him, and it’s great to have him back in the rotation,” Wells said.
Cole averaged 96.1 mph on his four-seamer — slightly up from his 95.9-mph average in 2024 but down from his 97.0-mph average in his final rehab start — and reached 98.6 mph.
After issuing a leadoff walk to Richie Palacios in the second, Cole retired 10 straight before Cedric Mullins’ one-out single in the fifth. That efficient stretch included a four-pitch fourth and a seven-pitch third.
The Rays (34-15) had runners on first and second with two outs in the fifth, but Cole retired Chandler Simpson on a grounder to second. His final inning was a 1-2-3 sixth against Junior Caminero, Jonathan Aranda and Yandy Diaz.
Cole didn’t have a flawless beginning, though, working in and out of trouble in the first. Simpson singled on his second pitch and Caminero walked. After getting Aranda to fly out to leftfield, Cole picked off the speedy Simpson attempting to steal third and struck out Diaz on three pitches.
“Putting the fastest guy on in the league [Simpson] two pitches in is tough,” Cole said. “But we worked on controlling the running game a lot over the last few weeks. It came to fruition in the first and was a huge out for us.”
Cole made six rehab starts, posting a 4.66 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP with six homers allowed, 28 strikeouts and three walks in 29 innings. The Yankees’ initial plan was for him to make a seventh rehab start, but plans changed as he showed he was ready.
As far as Cole’s next steps, it’s back to business: recovering and preparing for his next start on Wednesday in Kansas City.
“I’m in this environment, I try to execute high-quality pitches in this environment, so hopefully some of that muscle memory carries over and continue to build off that in the next coming months,” Cole said. “There’s no next level, so it’s about adapting to where we are right now.”
Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
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