Game 1 of the ALDS started with a scare for Gerrit Cole.
The Yankees ace’s very first pitch jumped 354 feet off the bat of the Royals’ Michael Massey, only to land safely in the glove of Juan Soto on the right-field warning track.
Three pitches later, Bobby Witt Jr. sent a 397-foot drive into center field, but Aaron Judge caught it in stride for another loud out.
The inning ended when Vinnie Pasquantino lined out to Judge.
Cole escaped the 1-2-3 inning on seven pitches, but all three outs registered an exit velocity exceeding 100 mph.
It proved to be a bit of foreshadowing.
Cole was uncharacteristically unspectacular in Saturday night’s 6-5 win over the Royals at Yankee Stadium, surrendering four runs (three earned) on seven hits over five-plus innings with four strikeouts on 80 pitches.
Eight at-bats ended with exit velocities over 100 mph, and three other batted balls surpassed 95 mph.
Cole’s defense picked him up in the second inning, when Soto threw out Salvador Perez at home plate on the lumbering catcher’s ill-advised attempt to score from second base on a single with no outs.
In the fourth, Cole lost a 2-1 lead when MJ Melendez struck a two-run home run that would have cleared the right-field wall at only one ballpark — Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees led again, 4-3, when Cole exited with a runner on first and nobody out in the top of the sixth with Melendez due up. That baserunner ended up scoring against reliever Tim Hill after an Anthony Volpe throwing error, and the unearned run was charged to Cole, leaving him with a no-decision.
Cole entered the game with a sterling 6-0 record and a 1.71 ERA in seven career ALDS starts with the Astros and Yankees.
Saturday marked Cole’s shortest ALDS appearance, and only the second in which he didn’t pitch at least six innings. His four strikeouts were his fewest in an ALDS outing, while the three earned runs matched his most in a start in that round of the postseason.
Cole, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, went 8-5 with a 3.41 ERA in 17 starts in the regular season. He missed nearly the first three months of the season after being diagnosed during spring training with elbow inflammation and edema, and his first few starts after returning in June functioned as an extended spring training.
But Cole caught fire down the stretch, pitching to a 2.25 ERA over his final 10 starts.
“It’s a season of ups and downs, a season of perseverance,” Cole said Friday ahead of the Game 1 start. “I’m thankful that I was able to come through the injury all right and be in a good position, as good a position as I can be at this point, and feeling really good going into the most important games of the year. I just feel really blessed in that regard.”
Cole’s last two outings of the regular season were his best of the year. He delivered a nine-inning, one-run gem against the Oakland A’s on Sept. 20, followed by 6.2 shutout innings against the Baltimore Orioles on Sept. 26.
Because the Yankees finished with the AL’s best record and a first-round bye, Cole pitched Saturday on eight days rest.
And while he wasn’t at his best, Cole limited the damage enough as the Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five playoff series.
Cole could pitch on regular rest in Game 4 on Thursday night, if the ALDS gets that far.