NEW YORK (AP) — Yankees ace Gerrit Cole pitched six shutout innings in his return from elbow ligament reconstruction that caused a 569-day absence, leaving with a 1-0 lead against the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night.
A 35-year-old right-hander who had surgery in March 2025, Cole allowed two hits and three walks while striking out two. He threw 50 of 72 pitches for strikes, starting 18 of 22 batters with an offering in the strike zone.
A six-time All-Star and the 2023 AL Cy Young Award winner, Cole was unusually sharp for a pitcher coming off a long layoff. He needed just 11 pitches in the third and fourth innings and retired 10 in a row during one stretch.
He averaged 96.1 mph with 35 four-seam fastballs, reaching a high of 98.6 mph in the first. He mixed in 13 sinkers, 10 sliders, eight changeups and six knuckle-curves.
Cole picked off a runner to help escape first-inning trouble and showed emotion when he screamed after throwing a full-count fastball past Jonathan Aranda for a called third strike in the fifth.
Austin Wells backed him with a fifth-inning homer off Nick Martinez.
With a few days of stubble on his face, Cole warmed up to the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter,” then crouched on the infield grass just behind the mound and concentrated on the dirt. He then used his new overhead hand movement in his windup, adopted during his rehab.
Cole kept up his energy by munching on bananas in the dugout between innings.
Chandler Simpson took a 95.9 mph called strike starting the game, then blooped an opposite-field single to left-center on another fastball and advanced when Junior Caminero walked on a full count. Aranda flied out, Cole picked off a dancing Simpson at second and Yandy Díaz took a sinker for a called third strike.
Cole worked around a one-out walk in the second, then retired the side in order during a seven-pitch third and again in a four-pitch fourth. He retired 10 straight batters before Cedric Mullins’ fifth-inning single.
Cole had not pitched a big league outing that counted since Oct. 30, 2024, in Game 5 of the World Series, when the Los Angeles Dodgers overcame a 5-0 deficit with five unearned runs against Cole and took the title.
Cole made a pair of one-inning spring training starts this year on March 18 and 24, then began minor league rehab outings on April 17. He had a 4.71 ERA in 28 2/3 innings, allowing 28 hits while striking out 28 and walking three.
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