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NEW YORK — Gerrit Cole stared straight ahead, not looking at anyone, a he walked from one end of the Yankees clubhouse to his back-wall locker late Friday afternoon.
His long road back from Tommy John surgery finally over, the six-time All-Star right-hander already had his game face on. It was 3 ½ hours before the first pitch of his first real game since Game 5 of the 2024 World Series at Yankee Stadium.
Outdoors, when day was turning to night, Cole had the same focus walking to and from the first-base dugout to the Yankees bullpen beyond the right-center field wall …
And when he headed to the mound for the first inning with his walkout music blaring, The Rolling Stones’ Gimme Shelter …
And when he looked like he really wanted to catch a second-inning low popup near the mound before third baseman Ryan McMahon charged in and called him off at the last second.
All of this focus led to outstanding results for any night, let alone a first big-league outing in almost 19 months, since his throwing error contributed to the Dodgers rallying from a 5-0, fifth-inning deficit at Yankee Stadium to wrap up the 2024 World Series.
Before the Rays rallied late against the Yankees bullpen to pull out a 4-2 victory, Cole brought his Cy Young form, working six shutout innings in his first start back.
“It was almost like a second debut kind of a situation,” Cole said. “It was an enjoyable moment and it was nice to get back in the fire.”
Overcoming a little scare in the first inning, Cole allowed two hits, both singles, struck out two and walked three before leaving after six innings and 72 pitches with the Yankees ahead 1-0.
“Obviously really efficient,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I just thought he was really good. They were being very aggressive with him, but I thought he did a good job of mixing his four-seam (fastball) and his sinker. I thought he ended up mixing in some good breaking balls. He had enough of a presence with the changeup to keep ‘em honest.”
Cole lost a chance for a victory when the Rays scored four eighth-inning runs off left-hander Tim Hill, the rally starting when Jose Caballero booted speedster Chandler Simpson’s leadoff groundball to short.
“It’s a play he’s got to make,” Boone said. “Simpson hit it sharp, but it felt like (Caballero) gave ground to make sure he got a good hop on the ball. He just didn’t make the play.”
Cole’s fastball was in the high 90s, his stuff excellent and he was highly economical. The right-hander had three 1-2-3 innings, retiring the Rays on seven pitches in the third and four in the fifth.
With the Yankees leading 1-0, left-hander Brent Headrick replaced Cole for the start of the Tampa Bay seventh.
The Yankees broke up a scoreless game in the fifth on a leadoff homer by struggling catcher Austin Wells, who lined a first-pitch sinker from Rays starter Nick Martinez over the right-field wall.
The lead stood until the eighth when Jonathan Aranda tied the game with an RBI double and Richie Palacios put the Rays ahead two batters later on a two-run, bases-loaded hit. The Rays scored a fourth run on a sacrifice fly.
Caballero’s costly error came on his return game from a 10-day stint on the injured list with a broken finger. He had two hits in four at-bats playing shortstop with Anthony Volpe on the bench, but was caught stealing and opened the floodgates with his miscue.
“It’s a line-drive short hop and kind of skipped on me, but I’ve got to make a play on it,” Caballero said. “No excuses.”
By losing, the second-place Yankees dropped 5 ½ games behind the AL East-leading Rays, who have won 22 of their last 26 to build an MLB-best 34-15 record.
Cole was their silver lining, and who knows how this would have turned out if he weren’t pulled after six innings?
Cole threw 86 pitches last week for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in the last of his six rehab starts from April 17 to May 22, but wasn’t extended beyond 72 for his return to the majors.
“He was done,” Boone said.
Cole agreed.
“I feel like that was a smart play,“ he said. ”It may seem easy, but it was a high-pressure, tough game.”
Cole was in trouble right away when Rays leadoff hitter Chandler Simpson led off the game with a line single to left and Junior Caminero walked on six pitches, but he got out of the two-on, nobody-out jam.
AL RBI leader Jonathan Aranda flied out to left for the first out, then Cole helped himself big-time by picking off Simpson, who was dancing far off second base. From there, Yandy Diaz struck out looking on three pitches.
“He was tested right away,” Boone said, “so (he was) managing the game and managing situations.”
Richie Palacios walked leading off the Rays second, but Cole retired the next three hitters on a fielder’s choice groundball to short, a liner to right that Aaron Judge snared with a dive and a popup to short.
After the first inning, the Rays’ only other hit off Cole was Cedric Mullins’ one-out single in the fifth. Taylor Walls walked with two outs to put two runners on in a scoreless game, but Cole retired Simpson on a groundball to second to end the threat.
“I think the most impressive thing was one or two at-bats (Cole) lost it and he was able to get right back into it,” Wells said. “I thought that was really good for his first start.”
Cole is thrilled to be back after being shut down during 2025 spring training and then having a season-ending surgery that cost him almost two months of 2026, too.
“Some ups and downs, for sure,” Cole said. “Long road, and yet at some point it was almost like I’d never left.
“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. Unfortunately, we couldn’t close it off, but it’s a good step forward and I’m looking forward to the next one.”
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