DETROIT – Detroit put the leadoff runner on in each of the first five innings Monday night at Comerica Park, and Yankees right-hander Gerrit Cole quickly shut the door in the first and second.
However, the Tigers scored in each of the next three innings as Cole allowed a season-high five runs in 4 1/3 innings, yielding nine hits -- including a Statcast-projected 422-foot, 107.5 mph solo homer by Riley Greene off a 2-2 changeup that caught too much of the plate in the fifth.
Cole, who entered the game 2-1 with a 2.57 ERA in five starts since returning from the IL, was pitching on extra rest after having his scheduled start pushed back from Sunday. He walked one and struck out five while his ERA rose to 3.62.
The former American League Cy Young Award winner and six-time All-Star didn’t allow a run in his first two starts (May 22 and 27), covering 12 2/3 innings. However, he allowed four against the Guardians and two in each of the next two starts before having his poorest showing of the season.
Cole was relieved by Paul Blackburn while trailing 5-1.
No. 9 hitter Zach McKinstry (batting .177) rifled a triple that rolled to the wall in left-center to start the third. Kevin McGonigle brought him home with a groundout to second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr., who was playing back on the infield, tying the score at 1-1.
Cole then struck out catcher Dillon Dingler, who led Detroit with 55 RBIs (more than any Yankee) coming into the game. But a two-out infield single by Kerry Carpenter was followed by a walk to cleanup hitter Greene.
Back-to-back run-scoring singles by Spencer Torkelson (now 4-for-11 in his career off Cole) and Colt Keith made it a three-run third inning. Pitching coach Matt Blake visited the mound between those hits, and Cole got ahead of Keith with an 0-2 count before he lined a pitch to right.
Tigers second baseman Hao-Yu Lee singled to open the fourth and raced home on a one-out double by McGonigle.