One pitch sinks Gerrit Cole and Yankees in tough loss to Dodgers that snaps four-game win streak
Gerrit Cole had the magic words to convince Aaron Boone to leave him in the game during a mound visit in the seventh inning Friday night. But that is just about where his sorcery ran out. Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.With the tying run on first and no outs, Cole remained in the game to face Max Muncy and on his season-high 103rd pitch of the night, left a slider over the heart of the plate that ended up in the second deck in right field. Muncy’s two-run shot off Cole flipped the game and dealt the Yankees a crushing 2-1 loss to the Dodgers in front of a sold-out crowd of 46,450 in The Bronx, snapping the four-game winning streak with which they finished the first half. The Yankees (54-43), continuing life without Aaron Judge for the foreseeable future after his reimaging during the All-Star break did not show enough healing to allow him to start baseball activities, could not provide enough run support to make Cole’s only mistake of the night sting less.
They mustered just one run against Roki Sasaki and the Dodgers bullpen, coming in the fourth inning when Jasson Domínguez scored on a passed ball. They had a chance to tie it in the eighth inning, but Trent Grisham was thrown out at the plate trying to score from first base on Ben Rice’s double with an aggressive send from third-base coach Luis Rojas.Grisham did not immediately bust it from first base, which came back to cost him as the Dodgers (62-36) made a strong relay from center fielder Andy Pages to shortstop Mookie Betts to catcher Dalton Rushing. With the Red Sox sweeping a doubleheader against the Rays on Friday, the Yankees had a chance to pick up a game and a half in the division, but settled for just a half-game, now trailing the Rays by 2.5 games for first place. Cole had been dominant for six shutout innings before issuing his first walk of the night to Betts to lead off the s...