“Up for the challenge”: Gerrit Cole gets a cosmic double play against the Rays with a 2-0 win

“Up for the challenge”: Gerrit Cole gets a cosmic double play against the Rays with a 2-0 win

Major League Baseball - Gerrit Cole

On Tuesday evening, at the Yankee Stadium, Gerrit Cole induced an inning-ending double play, setting the New York Yankees’ ace free from a difficult position. He was very appreciative of his play himself as he punched the air in excitement and screamed as he whirled off the mound.

Gerrit Cole and the New York Yankees passed their test, grinding out a 2-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays to lengthen the club’s winning streak to five games. Wiping away an ill-favoured start at Minnesota in which he allowed a career-high five home runs, Cole’s clean line of six scoreless innings and seven strikeouts does not summarize the drama of the sixth inning.

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Tampa Bay forced the right-hander to dig deep, requiring assistance on the field and off. “That’s the good thing about Gerrit,” said catcher Jose Trevino. “You get him in that position, he’s not going to back down. He’s going to come at you.”

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Gerrit Cole soars high with his never back down attitude

Gerrit Cole
Gerrit Cole

“It’s going to be a lot of tough baseball,” Cole said. “But we’re up for the challenge. Whatever it takes.”

After Yandy Díaz opened the inning with a soft single to left field, Gerrit Cole got Harold Ramirez to chop a grounder that the pitcher fielded on the grass between the mound and first base. Cole whipped a throw to second base that seemingly pulled Gleyber Torres off the bag, appearing to set up runners at first and second with none out.

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“I received the ball and I’m thinking double play all the way,” Cole said. He also said, “If that’s not a ‘defensive run saved,’ I don’t really know what is,” when asked about a nearly backfired call.

It was told that Gerrit Cole’s assignment was Randy Arozarena, the big-swinging outfielder who had singled his last time up. As it was all night, Cole’s mindset was to avoid slug, snapping the first-pitch slider low and out of the strike zone.

Arozarena chopped the ball to Kiner-Falefa at shortstop, sparking a 6-4-3 double play, a routine twin killing to end an inning that had been anything but. “He’s Gerrit Cole for a reason,” Kiner-Falefa said. “He made big pitches when he needed to, and that’s what we expect out of him.”

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