"Certainly not gonna lay out a game plan for you" - Gerrit Cole's hilarious response on how he would approach pitching to Yankees captain Aaron Judge
Yankees ace starting pitcher Gerrit Cole had an immaculate outing in the series finale against the Cleveland Guardians at Yankee Stadium on Thursday. He pitched six scoreless innings, issued five walks and struck out two batters as the Yankees won game 3 6-0 to win the three-game series.
In a post-game interview, a lighthearted moment between Gerrit Cole and the journalist ensued. An interviewer asked him what his pitching approach would be for Yankees captain Aaron Judge after he crushed the 48th home run of the campaign. Cole hilariously said:
"I think it depends on the score, but I am certainly not gonna lay out a game plan for you."
Cole had a tough start to the season. He was sidelined from the opening-day Yankees roster after complaining about discomfort in his pitching elbow, which saw him sit out for the majority of spring training as well. He missed almost 2.5 months due to the injury and was only activated back on June 19.
He struggled through the initial starts against the Orioles, Mets and the Blue Jays. Cole's pitching variations were off the mark, and his fastball was nowhere close to his best. But he never stopped working on himself and conjured up a 3-2 record through eight starts in June and July.
Through four starts in August, Gerrit Cole has gone 2-0, which has taken his overall record to 5-2 for the season. He has an ERA of 3.72 with 62 strikeouts and a 1.33 WHIP. In his latest start against the Guardians, he looked on the path towards getting to his best self.
Gerrit Cole will hope for another Yankees win when he takes to the mound next against the Nats on Tuesday
Gerrit Cole will make his next start in game 2 of a three-game series against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on Tuesday.
He will be up against a lakclustre unit of Washington, with their starting pitcher for the game being Patrick Corbin, who has had an abysmal record of 3-12 so far this season.
Expect Cole to rally behind a searing offensive display by the NY batters, which has helped him provide the necessary cuishon for pitching freely through all his starts in this campaign.