The Yankees began a homestand last night, against the Seattle Mariners, sending Gerrit Cole to the mound. And Harrison Bader returned to the lineup after an injury, playing center field. All that was encouraging. But they still needed to give Cole enough offense, and I was not encouraged about that.
And the game seemed to be typical of recent Yankee efforts: Scoring early, but not often, and then going cold. With 1 out in the bottom of the 1st inning, Gleyber Torres singled. After Giancarlo Stanton struck out, Anthony Rizzo doubled Torres home. Bader led off the bottom of the 2nd with a single, and Billy McKinney hit a home run. So it was 3-0 Yankees.
But for the rest of the game, the Yankees only got 4 hits, plus another runner reached on an error. No walks. That's 2/3rds of the game with unproductive offense. So Cole was going to have to be on his game.
He was. He got into the 8th inning, allowing just 1 run on 4 hits and 1 walk, striking out 8. Clay Holmes was perfect the rest of the way. And using only those 2 pitchers, plus a day off the day before, helped ease the strain on the bullpen.
Yankees 3, Mariners 1. WP: Cole (8-1). SV: Holmes (9). LP: George Kirby (6-6). It's a small step forward, and we should take any we can get.
The series continues tonight. Jhony Brito is scheduled to pitch against Luis Castillo. No, not that one. Too bad.