Gerrit Cole stomped down the dugout stairs after the first inning on Thursday at Camden Yards, animatedly gesturing to catcher Gary Sánchez and pitching coach Matt Blake. The ace right-hander seemed to be incensed after permitting an early run in a 21-pitch frame, especially since it came as the result of a leadoff walk.
Returning to the mound on a mission, Cole fine-tuned his tempo and carved through Baltimore’s batting order with precision. Supported by home runs from DJ LeMahieu, Aaron Judge and Aaron Hicks, Cole notched his second victory in as many starts as the Yankees trounced the Orioles, 9-3, at Camden Yards.
Cole retired 14 consecutive batters and 19 of 20 after José Iglesias’ first-inning RBI double in a 102-pitch, seven-strikeout effort. Cole had been preparing to face the Phillies this week, but with that outing postponed, the right-hander shifted gears for his first Yankees assignment against an American League East opponent.
It was the Yankees’ 17th consecutive win over the Orioles (since April 4, 2019), the third-longest such string against a single opponent in franchise history, and the Yanks’ franchise-record 16th consecutive win at Camden Yards (since July 11, 2018). For Cole, it marked his 18th consecutive regular-season victory (since May 27, 2019), having gone 18-0 with a 1.87 ERA over that span.
New York knocked O’s starter Asher Wojciechowski for five runs (four earned) and four hits over five innings. LeMahieu led off the game by striking the right-field foul pole and Mike Ford added a sacrifice fly later in that frame, taking advantage of a pair of catchers’ interference errors charged to Pedro Severino.
Kyle leads sports coverage and hosts the Concrete Jungle podcast. Have a lead or question? Send it to [email protected].