LAKELAND, Fla. -- Gerrit Cole would have preferred to keep his sterling spring ERA intact, but the Yankees' ace was not fretting about a rough Grapefruit League outing in Thursday's 15-11 loss to the Tigers in which he surrendered four home runs, twice serving up back-to-back blasts to the tandem of Travis Demeritte and Miguel Cabrera.

“It’s not my favorite day of 2020 so far, but it is just Spring Training,” Cole said. “There’s probably an element that we are going to continue to push the fastball, especially this early in the spring, and they’re probably there to get timed up on the fastball. We’ll have a more normal routine coming off this start than the last one, work on a couple things and get it cleaned up.”

Cole had compiled 3 2/3 scoreless frames through his first two spring starts as a Yankee, but that changed in the first inning as Demeritte slugged a two-run homer to left field and Cabrera followed with a solo blast to center. The feat was repeated in the second inning, as Demeritte hit another two-run homer that Cabrera followed with a solo shot, both to center field.

The first-inning homers came on poor pitches, in Cole’s evaluation, but he thought Demeritte put a good swing on the second blast -- a 2-2 fastball that Cole and catcher Gary Sánchez were trying to execute at the top of the strike zone. Cabrera then pounded a fastball that was middle-in, though Cole said it did not show consistent life. In all, Cole threw 44 pitches, 33 for strikes, with a walk and three strikeouts.

"I thought he threw a lot of good pitches,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Obviously, he made a couple of mistakes and might not have had the life at the top of the zone with his heater. They jumped on a couple of mistakes and didn't miss it, but I thought he made some good pitches and found his curveball there in the second inning. I think there's some benefit there in having a long inning, to get built up that way and have a little stress."

Cole said that a battle with illness earlier in the week -- he was shelved on Monday with a fever that he initially believed might be strep throat -- affected his pre-start routine somewhat, but he remains on schedule to pitch the Yankees’ season opener on March 26 at Baltimore.

“I don’t want to say we’re going through the motions out there; we’re competing,” Cole said. “But there are some other things that are important. When you throw a bad fastball, you want to throw a good one on the next one. You don’t want to shy away. You want to keep trying to repeat it. That’s kind of what we fell into on the second back-to-back homer.

“I thought I threw a good 2-2 fastball at the top with Demeritte. I flirted with the strike zone there, but he put a good swing on it. I was like, ‘You know what, screw it, let’s just execute it again.’ I moved the ball up and inside on Miggy, and I just got punished for it again. You just take it for what it is. I’ll just learn from it and get better.”

Taking shape
Jordan Montgomery has all but secured a rotation spot, according to Boone, who said that he feels that the 27-year-old lefty “is very much solidifying himself.” Despite surrendering four homers in Thursday’s three-inning effort, Montgomery is keeping an even keel as he aims to slide behind Cole, Masahiro Tanaka and J.A. Happ in the season-opening rotation.

"I've just been trying to get my work done,” Montgomery said. “I kind of believe that when I get my stuff done and I'm locked in, then my stuff will play. I'm just going to go out there every five days, and whenever they call on me, to throw strikes and get outs."

Boone said that he continues to see an open competition for the final spot, including a chance that the Yankees could piggyback starters or use an opener -- Chad Green said that the club recently spoke to him about the possibility of returning to a role that he filled on 15 occasions last season, plus once more in the American League Championship Series.

Otherwise, Boone listed Luis Cessa, Deivi Garcia, David Hale, Jonathan Loaisiga, Nick Nelson and Clarke Schmidt among the pitchers who could be factors this year.

“I think, in the end, we could go a lot of different ways,” Boone said. “I continue to be excited about our depth. I would imagine we’ll be a little creative in the early days as we wait for [James] Paxton to come back and other guys to get into the mix. I’ve liked what I’ve seen so far, and there’s been a lot of guys that have probably pitched themselves into the conversation.”

If at first ...
Miguel Andújar made his first Grapefruit League start at first base on Thursday, as the 25-year-old continues to add to a toolkit that has seen him take reps at third base and left field this spring.

Andújar committed a third-inning error on a dropped throw, while finishing 1-for-4 with a two-run double. Boone said that Andújar did not look as natural at first base as he has in left field this spring.

“Right now, it's a little bit of a priority to get him back in the outfield and get him those reps, as well as making sure we get him back to third, as well,” Boone said. “It's a little tricky with Miggy in that we don't want to run him into the ground and we've got to build him up properly. It's important for him to get these reps, especially in different spots."

Bombers bits
• The Yankees reassigned catchers Kellin Deglan and Wynston Sawyer to Minor League camp.

Up next
Right-hander Deivi Garcia, the Yankees’ No. 3 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, will be on the mound for his second start of the Grapefruit League campaign on Friday evening as the Bombers host the Orioles for a 6:35 p.m. ET contest at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Right-hander Thomas Eshelman draws the start for Baltimore.