Gerrit Cole appears to be back in his New York groove.
The Yankees ace earned his 150th career win Thursday afternoon in The Bronx, becoming just the fourth active MLB player to do so, after throwing six scoreless innings in the club’s 6-0 win in the regular-season series finale against the Guardians.
In the midst of an individual season that has been lacking the magic he showed during last year’s AL Cy Young-winning campaign, Cole still managed to join the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw, the Astros’ Justin Verlander and the Rangers’ Max Scherzer in accomplishing the feat.
“It’s a special number,” Cole said after the game. “I’m thrilled about it, and more thrilled that we played so well today.”
After Cole missed the first 2 ¹/₂ months of the season with nerve inflammation and edema in his throwing elbow, struggled through his return to the mound and even missed his turn in the rotation due to body fatigue earlier this month, the 33-year-old needed an outing like Thursday’s.
Despite a minor hiccup prior to the start of the second inning that put him behind in the count — a pitch-clock violation for throwing an extra warm-up pitch — Cole shook it off to allow just one hit through six innings.
The violation, as determined by home plate umpire Derek Thomas, drew the ire of Cole and manager Aaron Boone.
They argued there should have been a grace period after catcher Austin Wells had struck out to end the previous frame.
Wells got his gear on in a hurry, which Boone said the club essentially was penalized for: His rush started the clock sooner.
“The bottom line is, if Wells comes out of the dugout 6 seconds later, they wave it off,” Boone said.
The leadoff hitter of the inning, Cleveland’s Jhonkensy Noel, wasn’t near the batter’s box when Thomas said one more pitch.
Cole was docked and started off behind in the count before he ultimately walked Noel.
It’s the second time Cole has been hit with a pitch-clock violation before the start of an inning this season.
He failed to throw his final warm-up pitch until there were 20 seconds left on the clock in the Yankees’ 6-1 win over the Rays on July 19.
“He called it by the letter of the law,” Cole said. “So it’s the correct call in that sense.”
Cole recorded two strikeouts, hurling 55 strikes on 95 pitches.
It allowed him to surpass Jim Palmer for 64th place on the all-time strikeout list with 2,213.
The only minor blemish on his outing was a career-high five walks.
Taking their final series against Cleveland, the Yankees benefited greatly from Cole’s historic dominance against the Guardians.
Cole is 11-2 against Cleveland in his 12-year MLB career, with a 2.59 ERA and a 4-0 record (1.98 ERA) in the postseason with both the Yankees and Astros.
It’s been a strong month for Cole, who has only allowed one run over his past three starts, as well as just three runs over his past 23 innings.
“[One-hundred-fifty] wins in the big leagues is a pretty, pretty cool number,” Boone said. “On a Hall of Fame track. After that first day in Chicago, I feel like we’ve really thrown the ball well as a group. Couple tough losses in there around us throwing the ball well, but today was more of that. All four guys today, really in control.”