Until last week, Gerrit Cole hadn't pitched in a major league game since Game 5 of the 2024 World Series. Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium, it didn't show.
The New York Yankees blanked the Royals 7-0 behind Cole's second dominant outing since returning from Tommy John surgery -- 6 2/3 innings, 10 strikeouts, zero walks, four hits allowed, 79 pitches. Ben Rice drove in three runs. Ryan McMahon hit his fifth home run of the year. Kansas City's lineup collected four hits and went home quietly. The Yankees completed a three-game sweep and ran their winning streak over the Royals to 14 games.
The Fourth Inning Broke the Ice
Three innings of scoreless baseball, both starters locking in. Then Rice stepped in against Noah Cameron in the top of the fourth and changed the whole math.
His triple was a sharp liner to left that brought home Paul Goldschmidt and got Rice to third standing. Aaron Judge followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0. Two runs, two batters, and suddenly Cole had a cushion he wasn't going to let anyone chip away at.
Cameron (now 2-4) gave up both runs in five innings -- he held the Yankees to minimal damage, which is to say the damage was enough. The Yankees didn't need to do more than that.
Gerrit Cole Is Very Much Back
Cole is 35. He spent most of 2025 rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. His first start back was six scoreless innings on two hits against Tampa Bay. And now this.
He worked through Bobby Witt Jr. (0-for-4), Vinnie Pasquantino (0-for-4), and the rest of a lineup that gave the Yankees fits in years past. Ten strikeouts in 79 pitches without a single walk -- that's not just good pitching, that's a guy who knows exactly what he's doing and trusts every pitch. Fernando Cruz got the next four outs (1 1/3 innings, clean), and Camilo Doval closed out the ninth. The shutout was never really in doubt once Cole settled in.
It's his second start since the World Series. Both have been scoreless outings. I'm not going to say the rotation's questions are answered, because they're not -- but having Cole at the top of it, pitching like this, changes the ceiling on this team considerably.
The Seventh Opened It Up
Nick Mears came in for the seventh inning and made the game safe in the wrong way for the Royals. Two walks. Two hits. Three runs allowed in two-thirds of an inning. (Alex Lange came in and got the final out of the frame.)
Rice did most of the damage -- a 2-RBI single that pushed the lead to 5-0 and ended whatever conversation the Royals were hoping to have. It was his second hit of the night and his third RBI. Rice has been excellent against Kansas City all series. The Royals just don't have an answer for him right now.
McMahon's Exclamation Point
Ryan McMahon had been sitting. Monday, Aaron Boone went with José Caballero at third. Tuesday, the same spot went to Amed Rosario in a lineup shuffle. McMahon's bat had gone quiet and the Yankees were managing it.
Wednesday he was back in the lineup, went 2-for-4, and hit a 2-run shot off Mason Black in the eighth -- his fifth homer of the year -- to cap the scoring at 7-0. Nothing flashy about the rest of his night, but a home run after two days on the bench is its own kind of statement. Paul Goldschmidt went 2-for-4 with an RBI of his own.
The Chisholm Wrinkle
Jazz Chisholm Jr. homered in Tuesday's 15-1 win. Boone sat him anyway, starting Rosario in his place. (Chisholm didn't appear at all.) No injury, no controversy, just the kind of player-management decision that happens 162 times a year and gets no coverage when the team wins by seven.
The Yankees are 34-22, 1.5 games back in the AL East, and they've won 14 straight against Kansas City dating back to whenever the Royals last beat them. Cole heads out of Kansas City with a shutout line in his pocket and a rotation that, for one night at least, looked like it might be fine.
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.
