Six shutout innings, 72 pitches, 96.2 miles per hour. Gerrit Cole hadn't thrown a pitch in a big-league game in 569 days, and Friday night at the Stadium he looked like none of that time actually passed. The New York Yankees still lost to the Tampa Bay Rays, 4-2, because Tim Hill came in with the lead in the eighth and couldn't retire a single batter.
Cole deserved better. He almost always does.
What Happened in the Eighth
The score was 1-0 Yankees when the eighth started, and it stayed that way until José Caballero -- back at shortstop after missing 10 days with a broken finger -- let Chandler Simpson's grounder bounce off his glove leading off the inning. That error kicked open a door that Hill walked through and never closed.
Hill recorded zero outs. He allowed Jonathan Aranda's RBI double that tied it at 1-1, then Richie Palacios' 2-RBI single on a grounder that deflected off Hill's own glove and put Tampa ahead 3-1. Hill also put Yandy Díaz on with an intentional walk, so when pinch-runner Carson Williams scored on Ryan Vilade's sac fly off Camilo Doval to make it 4-1, that run landed on Hill's tab as well. Eleven pitches, zero outs, four runs.
Hill is now 0-2 on the year with a blown save. At some point the Yankees are going to have to decide whether this role is working.
Gerrit Cole Was Magnificent
Before we get too deep into the pain, let's be honest about what Cole actually did: six innings, two hits, zero runs, three walks, two strikeouts, 72 pitches. His first MLB start since the 2024 World Series -- 569 days, with elbow ligament replacement surgery in between -- and he came out averaging 96.2 mph on his four-seamer and pitching like the gap never happened.
Brent Headrick and Fernando Cruz worked through a choppy seventh (Headrick gave up two hits but Cruz got out of it with back-to-back strikeouts), so Cole's shutout still stood when the eighth arrived. He still had a winning decision in play.
Then Hill happened.
The Wells Homer
Austin Wells gave Cole the only run he'd need in the fifth, turning on a first-pitch sinker from Nick Martinez and driving it to right-center for his fourth homer of the season -- and his first since April 28. Martinez had actually been decent on his end (6 innings, 1 run, 9 hits -- the Yankees were putting runners on all night and just leaving them there), but that Wells shot felt like it might be enough given how Cole was pitching.
The Yankees left nine runners on base and went 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position. Trent Grisham went 3-for-5 and drove in nobody. Jazz Chisholm and Caballero had two hits apiece and didn't score. The offense got everything but the thing that matters.
The Judge Problem
Aaron Judge went 0-for-4 with the game-ending flyout. He's 1-for-23 over his last six games, batting .245, and hasn't recorded an RBI in 11 consecutive games. That's not a slump -- that's something worse, and when Judge isn't producing and the lineup can't convert runners into runs, you get nights like this one.
He'll turn it around. He's Aaron Judge. But right now he isn't.
The Bottom of the Eighth
Chisholm tripled off Ian Seymour in the bottom of the eighth to cut the deficit to 4-2, which briefly made the Stadium feel like something was possible. Bryan Baker had different thoughts, working around an Austin Wells walk in the ninth to close it out.
Rays 4, Yankees 2, final.
The Rays are now 4-0 against the Yankees this season and lead the AL East by 5.5 games with a 34-15 record -- best in baseball -- after winning 22 of their last 26. Tampa's not losing this lead anytime soon.
The Yankees have dropped 10 of their last 14. Cole was the best story this team has had in months, and the pen couldn't win him a game.
Jimmy writes the Bronx Pinstripes game recap after every Yankees game. Beat-reporter pacing, fan's heartbeat. He calls opposing players by last name and has no patience for dead-air innings.
