Gerrit Cole hasn't had the most injury-free 2024 season. He had to make his season debut for the New York Yankees all the way in June after suffering an elbow injury in Spring Training, so the last sight any Yankees fan would want to see is for their veteran ace to go down with yet another serious knock. On Monday, there were certainly concerns that Cole had picked up a potentially serious injury after he had to abruptly exit their 8-4 win over the Texas Rangers before the bottom of the seventh inning began.
The good news is that the knock Cole sustained wasn't to his elbow, arm, or shoulder. As Yankees analyst David Cone alluded to in the broadcast, the 33-year-old simply had to exit the game due to cramps, which, for what it's worth, the veteran starter isn't “super concerned” about, per Gary Phillips of New York Daily News.
Cole said that he first felt cramping on his right leg after following through a warmup pitch prior to the start of the seventh. But the good news is that Cole doesn't feel the pain on his right calf when casually moving.
“I jogged out there and didn’t feel it, I don’t feel it walking or moving around or anything,” Cole said.
The Yankees' decision to pull Gerrit Cole and limit him to just six innings of work on the night is more precautionary, as they did not want to run the risk of Cole exacerbating what is commonly an injury that doesn't have long-lasting effects.
“I tried a couple of things to get it to stop, and it didn’t stop. So it didn’t seem like it was going to go away,” Cole added.
This sentiment was then echoed by Yankees manager Aaron Boone, who thinks that Cole didn't look like he was suffering any ill effects from his cramps.
“I know he seemed pretty good right now when we came in. Hopefully that’s the case,” Boone said.
Gerrit Cole puts up one of his best starts of the season for the Yankees
Rounding into form following a prolonged absence due to injury is not the easiest of tasks. Gerrit Cole may be an elite starting pitcher, but even he needed a bit of time to get into his stride in 2024. There's no better time for Cole to do so with the AL East division crown still up for grabs with around a month left in the regular season.
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On Monday, Cole put up one of his best starts for the Yankees this season as he shut down the Rangers' offense. In six innings of work, Cole allowed just one earned run (on five total baserunners), while striking out nine — his second-best tally of the season. Interestingly enough, his season-high for Ks this season came against the Rangers as well, when he punched out 10 batters back on his August 10 start.
Cole, in particular, feels as though his four-seam fastball was much more on-point tonight than it was in his most recent start against the Washington Nationals. Against the Rangers, Cole's fastball drew 10 whiffs — a very promising sign.
“I thought it was really good. Thought we were mixing locations good and controlling the velo on it well and getting to really good areas,” Cole said.
With this win over the Rangers, the Yankees temporarily regain the division lead over the Baltimore Orioles.
