Yanks add on, hold on after Cole battles into 6th

ANAHEIM -- For five innings on Tuesday night, Gerrit Cole looked every bit like the rotation anchor the Yankees needed to kick off a critical late-season road swing, setting the stage for a 7-3 victory over the Angels.

Then, with one sharp swing of Christian Moore’s bat, a comfortable four-run cushion evaporated, Cole’s night ended abruptly, and the Yankees’ veteran ace walked off the mound at Angel Stadium visibly frustrated -- his final line failing to tell the full story of his outing.

Cole’s numbers -- 5 1/3 innings, eight hits, three earned runs, one walk and five strikeouts on 90 pitches -- looked like a typical mid-rotation battle on paper. But for a Yankees team currently 4 1/2 games behind the Rays in the American League East race, Cole’s 18th start since returning from Tommy John surgery was a continuous grind -- a constant battle through traffic and deep counts before his night unraveled in the sixth.

Before that breaking point, New York's offense provided Cole with an early cushion. In the top of the first, Spencer Jones ignited the dugout with a long two-run homer to center field -- his second blast in as many nights -- before Jazz Chisholm Jr. went back to back with one of his own to build a quick 3-0 lead.

"It makes a huge deal, especially with the pitchers we have and the bullpen," Chisholm said of the early spark. "I just feel like it's great to go out there, get the lead that we had, and make our pitcher feel comfortable."

Chisholm’s 3-for-5 performance continued a strong multiweek stretch of production for the infielder.

"We need it. He's capable of impacting the game in a profound way," manager Aaron Boone said of Chisholm's recent production. "He's doing good things and we need him."

While the early lead gave New York breathing room, Cole spent much of his start managing traffic. He relied on his secondary pitches -- specifically his slider, which generated his first two strikeouts -- to navigate tight jams. However, when Cole leaned on his four-seam fastball, Angels hitters made line-drive contact, racking up eight hits and stealing two bases to maintain pressure.

"There were a lot of counts that I did fall behind in and then they also put some good pitches in play which continued [putting] pressure on us through the first three innings," Cole said. "They continued to kind of put pressure on us until they eventually got me out of the game."

The tipping point arrived in the bottom of the sixth. Leading 4-1, Cole yielded a leadoff single to Wade Meckler before Moisés Ballesteros lined an 85 mph knuckle curve into center field to put two runners aboard. That set up Moore, who seized on a 93 mph slider and smashed a line drive to right field for an RBI triple, cutting the Yankees' lead to 4-3 and putting the potential tying run on third base.

"I thought Gerrit was really good," Boone said. "They made him work and they were finding the barrel some ... but he set us up to go win, got deep enough into that game to set us up to go to our guys."

Boone turned to reliever Brent Headrick, who struck out pinch-hitter Jose Siri and got Oswald Peraza to line out, stranding the tying run at third and preserving the lead.

Rather than letting the Angels build on that momentum, the Yankees responded late to maintain some distance.

In the eighth, Jones sparked the insurance push with a walk, Chisholm singled and Trent Grisham -- working through a prolonged two-month slump -- slapped a clutch two-strike RBI single the other way off lefty reliever Samy Natera Jr.

"That's everyone doing a little something tonight," Boone said. "Grish there, two strikes, obviously going the other way against the lefty. A lot of really good left-on-left at-bats there ... and our lefties delivered big time in that inning to kind of put away the game."

Jones capped his night in the ninth with an RBI single off left-hander Sammy Peralta, putting the finishing touches on a 2-for-3 performance with two walks and three RBIs. The rookie’s rapid evolution has been particularly vital against southpaws, against whom he is maintaining a .400 batting average (14-for-35) -- a stark contrast to a Yankees team that has hit .243 against lefties on the season.

"With lefties, you've got to keep a simple approach and I'm not really trying to do too much," Jones said. "It's just about putting good swings on the ball."

"[Jones is] taking the things he's experiencing every day at this level and putting them into practice, and he's doing an outstanding job," Boone added.