From Bill Ladson:
Right-hander Gerrit Cole wasn’t given a chance to give the Yankees a quality start against the Twins on Friday night at Yankee Stadium.
Mother Nature played a role in his five innings on the mound, but at least the Yankees won the game, 5-2, and snapped their seven-game losing streak.
Cole pitched the first three innings, allowing one run, and then the rain came down, which caused a 53-minute delay. During those three innings, Cole retired nine of the 11 hitters he faced. His only blemish was in the first inning, when he allowed a two-out homer to Kody Clemens. Cole would then retire seven of the next eight hitters he faced before play stopped.
Cole was just OKAY, but I imagine he’s still getting used to pitching again. It’s only been eight games. The first few games had boosts of adrenaline, and then he fell down, and now he’s slowly building himself back up. My biggest concern right now is getting Max Fried back into the rotation. What the fuck is the hold up with his recovery? It’s all way too mysterious.
Carloses Lagrange and Rodon both being hurt really fucking sucks. Lagrange is almost assuredly done for the year, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Rodon is done for the year, as well. That’s why it is so important to get Fried back healthy. I can live with Will Warren pitching Game 4 of a playoff series. I can’t live with Will Warren pitching Game THREE of a playoff series.
Speaking of players being healthy, just having a competent outfielder in Trent Grisham totally changed the lineup tonight. Grisham’s return will likely take off some pressure off of the other guys, and hopefully give Rice a chance to hit again.
Paul Blackburn has been forced to pitch so much because of short outings by the starters that I think they’re starting to see that he can actually pitch as a short man (because he was effectively FORCED to be a short man by pitching whenever the starter had trouble, which was EVERY GAME), and if he can be effective in that role, that would obviously help a lot. They literally JUST turned a mediocre starter into a valuable reliever two years ago with Luke Weaver, so I have no idea why it took them so long to try it with Blackburn.
Good to see Bednar back. If he was here the other day, they’d probably have won that Detroit extra inning game. Lot of Murphy’s Law shit going on (also, if Bednar was going to go on paternity leave, why not let him pitch a third inning in the Boston game?).
The Rays won their ninth straight. As bad as it is to lose seven straight games, it’s fucking INSANE that the team behind you won eight straight while you were losing seven straight. What are the fucking odds?
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