When Game 5 of the American League Division Series between the New York Yankees and the Cleveland Guardians was supposed to be played on Monday, Yanks’ ace Gerrit Cole told his manager, Aaron Boone, that he was available to pitch in relief.
As a reminder, Cole was fresh off throwing 110 pitches on Sunday night to give his team the victory in Game 4 in Cleveland.
It might seem crazy – and Boone acknowledged that he might have been hesitant to use Cole on Monday with zero days rest – but that’s the kind of competitor he is.
Now that he has had at least one day to rest, Cole insists that if Boone needs him at some point in Game 5 – which will now be played Tuesday afternoon at 4:07 pm ET – he can use him.
“Gerrit Cole is “definitely in play” to pitch as a reliever in Game 5, Aaron Boone said,” Yankees insider Bryan Hoch tweeted.
Gerrit Cole is “definitely in play” to pitch as a reliever in Game 5, Aaron Boone said.
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) October 18, 2022
Cole Has Been The Series MVP For The Yankees So Far
Cole has given the Yankees their two victories in the series, in Game 1 and Game 4.
In those two starts, he has 16 strikeouts and a brilliant 2.03 ERA, covering 13.1 frames.
The regular season was a bit less kind to Cole from an ERA standpoint, as he finished with a 3.50 mark.
That’s not a bad ERA by any means, but he can be much better than that.
Nobody in the American League allowed more home runs than him.
However, he also pitched 200.2 innings and bailed his bullpen out on more than one occasion by giving the unit some rest.
He also established a Yankees’ franchise record for most strikeouts in a single season with 257.
All things considered, if the Yankees need Cole to cover an inning or two, he should get the job done.
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