Yanks drop finale after Cole allows 3 HRs to open game -- for 2nd time in career

SAN DIEGO – Gerrit Cole had lived this particular nightmare before.

It was a little more than four years ago – June 9, 2022, to be exact – when the Yankees ace found himself in an immediate hole, stunned after surrendering home runs to the first three Twins he faced. He thought it could never happen again.

The Padres changed that on Sunday, providing the right-hander with a most unwelcome flashback. Cole’s first 15 pitches resulted in consecutive blasts to Fernando Tatis Jr., Jake Cronenworth and Manny Machado in the Yankees’ 4-3 loss at Petco Park.

“They put really good swings on the ball,” Cole said. “Sometimes it is what it is. You’ve got to separate that from doing your job, which is to continue to take it one pitch at a time and leave the mistakes behind you. You keep working.”

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Cole is the only Major League pitcher to surrender home runs to the first three batters of a game twice in a career. The Yankees rallied to win that Minnesota game, 10-7, despite the blasts by Luis Arraez, Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa.

It was the 12th time in Major League history that a club has opened a game with three home runs; San Diego was the first team to do so, back in 1987.

“That was really fun, especially against the quality of starter that we were facing today,” Tatis said. “That was the kind of push we needed.”

Tatis’ blast to right field came on an 83.8 mph knuckle curve, Cronenworth went opposite field down the left-field line on a 96.6 mph four-seamer and Machado cleared the center-field wall by slugging a 97.0 mph four-seamer.

“The curveball kind of squirted out to Tatis,” Cole said. “I thought Machado took a great pitch out; unbelievable swing. And I thought Cronenworth took a pretty good 2-1 fastball and put a good swing on it.”

Cole settled in after that point, limiting San Diego to Luis Campusano’s seventh-inning homer the rest of the way. With three strikeouts, Cole tied Al Downing (1,028) for 11th place on the Yankees’ all-time strikeout list.

“It obviously happened quick in the first inning, but I didn’t think we were out of it for a second,” said Spencer Jones. “Gerrit went out there and he did his job for the rest of the game. He pitched really well. He gave us a chance.”

But the Yankees’ bats couldn’t break through against Michael King as New York settled for a 3-3 trip between Anaheim and San Diego.

King limited his former club to four hits over six innings. A popular clubhouse figure who was dealt to San Diego as part of the December 2023 Juan Soto trade, King walked three and struck out three, extending his scoreless streak to 21 2/3 innings.

“The couple of times he was in a jam, he was able to wiggle out of it,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Disappointing we couldn’t get to him.”

Jones wrapped his memorable homecoming series by putting New York on the board in the eighth with an RBI double facing Adrian Morejon, winning a tough left-on-left matchup.

“He throws things hard, so I was just trying to see one of the fastballs and bring it up in the zone a little bit,” Jones said. “I was able to get a piece of it, hit it down the line and keep the chain moving.”

Morejon committed a throwing error on an Amed Rosario infield hit that allowed two runs to score, but José Caballero was thrown out stealing to end the eighth. The Yankees managed only a two-out walk facing Mason Miller in the ninth.

“They made a play on us, but we’re not going to stand over there,” Boone said. “We’ve got to try to get into scoring position there.”

Though the Yankees’ schedule is dark on Monday, there will be a significant event at Yankee Stadium: Aaron Judge is expected to face live pitching for the first time since late May.

There is growing optimism that Judge might be activated at some point during this six-game homestand, when the Yankees host the Rockies and Mets.

“That would be awesome,” Cole said. “He’s a great player, man. So that would be really awesome. I’m just looking forward to him coming back whenever the right time is.”