In the biggest start of his Yankees career, Gerrit Cole appeared to be on his way to the performance of a lifetime.
With the Yankees facing elimination in Game 5 of the World Series, Cole retired the Dodgers’ first eight batters Wednesday night in the Bronx and held the loaded Los Angeles lineup hitless through four innings.
The Yankees led by five runs going into the top of the fifth — but that’s when everything turned in their World Series-ending 7-6 loss to the Dodgers.
After Enrique Hernandez led off the inning with a single, Yankees center fielder Aaron Judge dropped a routine fly ball hit by Tommy Edman, putting runners on first and second.
Shortstop Anthony Volpe followed with another error, bouncing a throw to third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. on a Will Smith grounder to load the bases with no outs.
Still, Cole nearly escaped the inning unscathed.
He pumped a third-strike fastball past Gavin Lux for the first out.
He fooled a swinging Shohei Ohtani with a nasty knuckle curve for the second out.
And he induced a slow ground ball off the bat of Mookie Betts with a chance to extinguish the scoring threat.
But first baseman Anthony Rizzo didn’t charge Betts’ cue shot, and Cole stopped running on his way to cover the bag. That allowed the speedy Betts to reach and for the Dodgers’ first run to score.
Freddie Freeman then lined a two-run single on a 1-2 fastball, and Teoscar Hernandez followed with a two-run double to center field that soared over Judge’s head.
Just like that, the Yankees’ 5-0 advantage turned into a 5-5 tie. All five of those Dodgers’ runs were unearned.
The shoddy defense squandered a valiant effort in an elimination game by Cole, who did not allow an earned run over his 6.2 innings but settled for a no-decision. The right-hander gave up four hits and four walks and struck out six.
He stuck around for five more outs following the Dodgers’ error-fueled fifth-inning rally, and the Yankees led, 6-5, when Cole exited with two outs in the seventh inning.
As he walked to the dugout, a sellout Yankee Stadium crowd of 49,263 showered Cole with a standing ovation.
It was a show of appreciation for a pitcher who grinded through a roller-coaster season, one that began with a spring-training diagnosis of inflammation and edema in his right elbow.
The reigning American League Cy Young Award winner missed nearly the first three months of the season, and through seven starts, he sported an uncharacteristic 5.40 ERA.
Cole finished strong, pitching to a 2.25 ERA over his final 10 regular-season outings, and he mostly continued that success through the playoffs.
His outing in Game 5 of the World Series lowered his ERA to 2.17 over 29.0 innings this postseason.
He held the Dodgers to one run over six-plus innings in Game 1 in Los Angeles, but in similar fashion as Wednesday, a series of defensive misplays in that game contributed to Cole taking a no-decision and, ultimately, to the Yankees losing that game in extra innings.
The Yankees did not consider using Cole on short rest in Tuesday night’s Game 4 after falling behind 3-0 in the best-of-seven series, with manager Aaron Boone citing the pitcher’s early-season injury as a reason to be cautious.
Cole threw 108 pitches on Wednesday after not exceeding 89 in any of his previous four playoff starts.
“I feel great right now,” Cole said before Game 5. “I’m available whenever the team wants me to pitch. There’s nothing preventing me from pitching if the team wants me to pitch.”
