2022 MLB Playoffs: Gerrit Cole sets tone in Yankees' Game 1 ALDS win

By Deesha Thosar
FOX Sports MLB Writer

NEW YORK — Prior to Tuesday, the last taste Yankees fans had of postseason Gerrit Cole was his meltdown against the Red Sox in the 2021 American League Wild-Card Game in Boston last October. 

Fast-forward to his outing against Cleveland, amid thousands of rocking Yankees fans supporting their ace in his first postseason home start at Yankees Stadium, and Cole didn’t just set the tone for New York’s ride into the playoffs. It was also his redemption.

"It was very special for me," he said afterward.

Following all the speculation about whether Cole or left-hander Nestor Cortes should get the ball in Game 1, it turned out that the Yankees had the right guy on the mound after all.

Cole pitched 6⅓ innings of one-run ball in the Yankees’ 4-1 win over the Guardians in Game 1 of the ALDS on Tuesday in the Bronx.

"He's got pretty good stuff," Guardians manager Terry Francona said of Cole after his lineup failed to put up a crooked number against him. "I mean, you watch the game, he's got velocity. He spins the ball. Pretty tough to get a beat on him."

The right-hander struck out eight batters and gave up four hits across 101 pitches, with 63 of those offerings falling for strikes. Cole was confident and cool under moments of pressure and downright filthy against the bottom of Cleveland’s lineup. He also got some help from the mostly sharp defenders behind him.

Besides Isiah Kiner-Falefa's error on a routine ground ball in the top of the first inning, the Yankees' defense was clutch all night. That trend began with Harrison Bader's quick throw to the cutoff man on a Jose Ramirez double in the third inning. Bader's defensive IQ kept Amed Rosario from scoring and adding another early Cleveland run. At that point, the Yankees had fallen behind 1-0 because of Steven Kwan's solo home run off Cole earlier in the inning.

In the fourth, left fielder Oswaldo Cabrera sprinted laterally and made a terrific leaping catch in foul territory. Cabrera lost his hat over the wall in the process and fist-bumped the fan that gave it back to him before returning to his post in left field. His smooth grab was followed by more of the usual elite defense from the Yankees’ slick third baseman. Josh Donaldson expertly snagged an Austin Hedges line drive behind the third-base bag and took a moment before firing to first base for the out.

"Excellent defensive play there," Cole said of Bader’s throw. "Reminds me of a ball George [Springer] cut off in the World Series a few years ago holding Howie Kendrick to a single, and we capitalized on it. Oswaldo made a great play up against the wall, kind of continues to just be so impressive. And Donaldson was down and dirty for us, too, in the hot corner."

New York’s defense helped Cole notch an eight-pitch fourth inning. By the end of that frame, he was at 70 pitches, and it was critical for the right-hander to work quicker innings in order to pitch deep and avoid overusing a thin bullpen. Cole pitched a 1-2-3 sixth and wound up at 97 pitches. After the Yankees gave him a 4-1 lead in the sixth, he came back out for the seventh in a not-at-all risky move.

Cole threw more than 97 pitches in 20 of his 33 starts in the regular season, with his highest pitch count coming in a 118-pitch, 6⅔-inning affair Sept. 7 against the Twins. If anyone can be tasked with the responsibility of pitching deep into games — in light of the Yankees’ bullpen becoming weaker following the surprising news of right-hander Scott Effross’ Tommy John surgery — it’s Cole. Of course, the flip side of Cole racking up 200⅔ innings in the regular season is that he could get gassed more quickly in the playoffs. But he isn’t there just yet.

The Yankees' ace recorded one more out in the seventh before giving up a line drive to Myles Straw that deflected off the leaping Kiner-Falefa’s glove at shortstop. Cole was then pulled by Yankees manager Aaron Boone after 6⅓ innings and 101 pitches, having allowed just the one run on Kwan’s solo homer.

Cole received a thunderous standing ovation from the sellout-crowd of 47,807 on his trot back into the Yankees dugout. After fending off the pesky Guardians, he posted along the dugout railing and watched Jonathan Loaisiga complete the seventh inning without allowing any of his inherited runners to score.

"The energy from the fans, it was just amazing," said Bader, who in the third inning notched his first home run as a Yankee after being traded in August. "When you have such an incredible fan base, fans that are just rabid and want to win as badly as Yankees fans do, it's almost like you're playing with them on the field."

And so Cole begins his 2022 postseason with a 1.42 ERA and a solid outing to build on. If he can continue to be lights-out with minimal to no home run damage, the Yankees have a chance to go as deep in the postseason as their No. 1 pitcher can take them. 

For now, Tuesday showed that perhaps Cole’s meltdowns are finally behind him.

"He did a really good job of owning the moment, being unpredictable, and I thought his breaking ball was really, really on point tonight," Boone said. "And then the few times he was backed into a corner, he made some pitches. Gerrit was really good."

Deesha Thosar is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets for the New York Daily News. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.