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It’s Gerrit Cole’s turn to be a postseason hero

Posted on by Gerres
It’s Gerrit Cole’s turn to be a postseason hero

Hello, my name is Dan Gartland. I still don’t think the Yankees will make it back, but at least the World Series won’t be a big deal. It’s always an anticlimactic way to end the season.

In today’s SI:AM:

Anthony Volpe’s Night of Dreams
Luke Weaver does it again
Tough decision for Colts at QB

In Game 4 of the World Series on Tuesday night, Anthony Volpe was the main attraction. The New York Yankees shortstop, who grew up in the Tri-State area and idolized Derek Jeter, gave his team a 5-2 lead in the third inning with a dramatic grand slam that allowed the Yankees to live to see another day.

Volpe, a light-hitting, gloved-hitter in the bottom half of the order, was the unlikely hero. But if the Yankees are going to force a Game 6 and send the series back to Los Angeles, it’s no secret who will have to be the key.

Gerrit Cole will start his fifth game for New York on Wednesday night, while the Los Angeles Dodgers will send acquisition Jack Flaherty to the basket at the trade deadline. Cole was worth every penny of the nine-year, $324 million contract he signed with the Yankees before the 2020 season. He is one of just five MLB pitchers with at least 900 strikeouts over the past five seasons and is the reigning AL Cy Young winner .

But Cole has yet to have a signature postseason performance in pinstripes. His best playoff start for the Yankees came in an empty stadium in Cleveland in the 2020 wild-card game, when he scored 13 points in seven innings while allowing two runs in a 12–3 victory. The following year in the wild card game, he didn’t even make it past the third round when the Yankees were eliminated by the Boston Red Sox. In 1922, he had two big wins in the ALDS, but allowed five runs in just over five innings in Game 3 of the ALCS en route to a series with the Houston Astros (his previous team).

It goes without saying – considering this is the Yankees’ first World Series appearance in 15 years – that Cole hasn’t been in a big game like this since leaving the Astros. The chances of a comeback from a 3-0 deficit are still infinitesimal, but it has to start with Cole controlling the powerful Los Angeles offense and getting deep enough into the game to provide some respite for a Yankees team that was throwing 11 and a half innings the last two nights.

Cole is a dying breed. There aren’t many true ace pitchers these days – starters who can get deep in the game on a regular basis. (He is one of only five jugs with multiple 200-inning seasons over the past five years.) And if New York is to keep its hopes alive in Game 5, manager Aaron Boone may have to give Cole a longer leash than he did in Game 1.

Cole pitched well in the first game of the series, allowing one run on four hits and four strikeouts in six innings of work, so it was somewhat of a surprise that Boone pulled Cole after he allowed a leadoff single to Teoscar Hernández in the seventh. Cole, who threw 88 pitches, had already stayed out of trouble against the most dangerous part of the Dodgers’ lineup in the previous inning, allowing a double to No. 9 hitter Tommy Edman before retiring Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman , to maintain the Yankees’ 2-1 lead.

Clay Holmes replaced Cole and hit the first batter he faced with a pitch. A sacrifice bunt moved runners to second and third before Holmes retired Will Smith on an infield pop-up before Boone brought in Tommy Kahnle to secure the final out of the inning.

Moving on to two of New York’s top three bullpen players who came back early to bite the Yankees in a 10-inning loss. If Cole is as sharp in Game 5 as he was on Friday, will the Yankees trust him to get to the plate in the seventh? If he’s out early, it probably means the champagne has already hardened in the visiting club.

Volpe became the first player to hit a decisive grand slam in the World Series, and his team faced elimination in the fourth game.

Volpe became the first player to hit a decisive Grand Slam in the World Series, and his team faced elimination in the fourth game. / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

…things I saw last night:

5. Freddie Freeman’s record sixth straight game in the World Series with a homer.
4. Luka Dončić’s dagger With way downtown.
3. Reception Wild goalkeeper Marc-André Fleury entered the team his last game in Pittsburgh.
2. Argentine football club The impressive entrance of the River Plate for the Copa Libertadores match.
1. Serbian, French and Japanese connections Anthony Volpe’s Grand Slam.