NEW YORK -- Gerrit Cole was riding a five-start streak of holding opponents to two runs or fewer. The Yankees’ ace was one pitch away from making it six.
Instead, Christian Walker hit a two-run homer that landed in the front row of the right-field seats, pushing the Astros further ahead near the conclusion of Cole’s six-inning effort in Thursday's 5-1 loss at Yankee Stadium.
“I thought we made a lot of really good pitches tonight,” Cole said. “I thought we had a really elite offering of all pitches. I think in certain situations we executed and they beat us, so it’s just a bit unfortunate. But sometimes that’s the way it breaks.”
Facing Houston for the first time since Game 3 of the 2022 American League Championship Series, Cole was touched for three runs and six hits, tossing 59 of 79 pitches for strikes. The right-hander walked one and struck out five.
“I thought Gerrit threw the ball pretty well,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “He gave up the three runs, and I kind of feel like he pitched quite a bit better than that.”
Cole is 7-7 with a 3.19 ERA in 17 starts this season.
Houston nicked Cole for a third-inning run when Jeremy Peña was hit by a pitch, then scored from first base on Isaac Paredes’ single to right field. Cole noted that both the hit batsman and the base-on-balls came around to score, with Daulton Varsho aboard for Walker’s homer.
“You’ve got to try to limit those as a pitcher,” Cole said. “I think in Walker’s case, it was a well-executed and convicted pitch. He squared it up and put a really good swing on it. That’s frustrating, but credit to him on the swing.”
The Yankees entered Thursday having scored 24 runs in their last three games, but they mustered little support for Cole facing former Yankees prospect Hayden Wesneski.
New York’s only run with Cole in the game came in the home half of the sixth, when Ben Rice doubled, advanced on a flyout and scored on a Cody Bellinger sacrifice fly.
“We just didn’t get enough going offensively,” Boone said.
With the Red Sox coming to town, Cole figures to be pinned to the dugout rail, knowing these four games will carry weight in the playoff picture.
“We’re definitely in striking distance,” Cole said. “Obviously, you want to be performing better up to this point in the season. All these series are big from here on out.”