Gerrit Cole came into Tuesday’s start with few expectations given that he was still building up his pitch count.
But he couldn’t have expected this.
The Mets clobbered Cole for four home runs across four innings on Tuesday night, putting the Yankees in a six-run hole that turned into a 9-7 loss in the first game of the Subway Series at Citi Field.
“Disappointing,” Cole said after throwing 72 pitches as he continues to increase his workload. “I didn’t really give us a good chance to win tonight. Didn’t execute enough good pitches as a whole.”
Cole had looked sharp in his first start of the season last week against the Orioles after missing the first two and a half months with elbow nerve inflammation, but he was much more pedestrian on Tuesday on a night when he struggled with fastball command and fluctuating velocity.
“Trying to find the blend of intensity and command, being able to put it where we want both inside the strike zone and out,” Cole said. “It’s a bit like driving a car. Too much clutch or too little clutch can slip you out of gear a little bit.”
The reigning AL Cy Young winner walked four batters, three of which came in a 28-pitch first inning, while giving up seven hits and not recording a single strikeout.
It marked only the second time in his career that Cole has not struck out a batter.
Cole only generated five whiffs on the night, just one of which came on his fastball that had a noticeable drop in velocity after the first inning, when he came out flashing 97-99 mph.
Mark Vientos was responsible for two of the home runs off Cole, which came on fastballs of 91.5 mph and 92.3 mph.
Cole did not throw a fastball slower than 92.3 mph all of last season.
By the end of his night, Cole’s fastball averaged 95.4 mph — up from the 95 mph it averaged in his season debut, but with a wider range of 91.5-98.9 mph and still down from his 96.7 average last season.
Cole’s 12 hardest fastballs all came in the first inning Tuesday, ranging from 96.5 mph to 98.9 mph, and the velocity was also down on the rest of his pitches.
“I was very encouraged by the first inning,” Cole said. “That was free and easy. But there’s a certain point where it’s like, my objective is to get deep into the ballgame and I’m not quite sure I’m ready to just keep sitting 97-99. And we’re not in the strike zone enough with it.
“So not only is it an effort of we’re trying to get to 75 pitches, but it’s also like, ‘It’s not really going where you want it to Gerrit, so is that the most efficient fastball you can be throwing tonight?’ I think we settled in a good spot later in the game. If the first inning goes a little different, that may change some of the metrics and the strategy of it going forward as well.”
After Vientos’ first homer in the second inning, Harrison Bader took his former teammate deep two batters later on a 93 mph fastball, putting the Mets up 3-0.
Vientos then led off the fourth inning with a solo shot before Brandon Nimmo crushed a changeup for a two-run shot that made it 6-0.
Most importantly, Cole said he felt good physically.
But Aaron Judge compared this to Cole’s spring training — which he was mostly robbed of because of the elbow issue — which the ace said was fair.
“As he builds up here, it’s finding those gears,” manager Aaron Boone said. “When you are less, you gotta get it to the spots you want to get it to.”