Former Pirates Ace Let Down In Yankees’ World Series Loss

Former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole found himself in the middle of a meltdown for the ages in the New York Yankees’ 7-6 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers to lose the World Series in five games.

Cole, who was the No. 1 overall pick by the Pirates in 2011 and played five seasons in Pittsburgh, nearly got off to a perfect start. He held the Dodgers hitless through the first four innings, striking out three batters and walking two as the Yankees jumped out to a 5-0 lead.

Then the wheels started to fall off.

After a leadoff single from Dodgers center fielder Kiké Hernández, Yankees center fielder Aaron Judge and shortstop Anthony Volpe each made an error to load the bases with no outs. Cole struck out Gavin Lux and Shohei Ohtani to get one out away from escaping the jam. Dodgers superstar Mookie Betts hit a routine groundball to Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo, but Cole failed to cover first base, which allowed Betts to reach base and plate a run.

Then the wheels completely fell off.

The Dodgers further took advantage of the myriad errors, as a two-run single from Freddie Freeman and a two-run double from Teoscar Hernandez plated five unearned runs in the inning to tie the game. The Yankees five unearned runs are the most in an elimination game in World Series history, according to Jay Cuda.

Cole came back to work a scoreless sixth inning and departed with two outs in the seventh inning and the Yankees leading 6-5. He finished his night with 6.2 innings pitched, no earned runs allowed and he gave up four hits, walked four batters and struck out six.

Cole went 1-0 with a 2.17 ERA across five starts in the playoffs. In the World Series, he made two starts and allowed just one earned run over 12.2 innings pitched. The Yankees lost both starts by Cole.

Fellow former Pirates pitcher Clay Holmes relieved Cole and got out of the jam by striking out Max Muncy with runners on first and second. The Dodgers completed their comeback in the top of the eighth inning with a pair of runs on sacrifice flies after loading the bases with no outs.

Cole went 59-42 with a 3.50 ERA while striking out 734 batters over 782 1/3 innings across his five seasons in Pittsburgh from 2013-2018. The former Pirates ace was then traded to the Houston Astros, where he budded into one of the best pitchers in baseball.

Cole was 35-10 with a 2.68 ERA in his two-year stint with the Astros before he signed a nine-year, $324 million deal during the 2020 offseason with New York. Cole is 59-28 with a 3.12 ERA over his five seasons with the Yankees and he won his first Cy Young Award in 2023.

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