NEW YORK – On an afternoon dedicated to celebrating the Yankees’ past, Gerrit Cole offered another reminder of what has made him one of the league’s finest pitchers for more than a decade. Under that same spotlight, two of his rookie teammates offered a glimpse of their potential.
Cole struck out nine over seven strong innings, outdueling Chris Sale while becoming the quickest pitcher in franchise history to reach 1,000 strikeouts.
George Lombard Jr. hit his second Major League home run and Spencer Jones drove in two runs, leading the Yankees to a 5-4 victory over the Braves on Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
“It feels good,” Lombard said. “The guys in the clubhouse, the coaching staff, everyone has kind of welcomed me. They’ve given me the confidence to keep doing my thing and keep playing my game. I feel like I’ve been able to get rolling well.”
Once the 78th Old-Timers’ Day festivities wrapped, the present-day Yankees claimed the field, and Cole said the 21-year-old Lombard set the tone early. In just his fourth game since being promoted, Lombard has impressed, coupling sparkling defense with offensive production.
This time, it began with Lombard’s glove, ranging smoothly to retire Drake Baldwin for the first out of the game – “fielding it like he was half-asleep,” as Cole said. Lombard opened eyes later, scoring from first base on Jones’ fifth-inning triple before lifting a Statcast-projected 352-foot drive over the right-field wall in the seventh inning.
“We’re confident that he’s ready for this,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He’s certainly shown that.”
Lombard is the seventh Yankee to hit two homers through his first four Major League games, and the first since Jasson Domínguez in 2023. Ben Rice added his team-leading 32nd homer in the eighth, his first since July 27.
Matched against a former National League Cy Young Award winner in the left-handed Sale, Jones delivered in each at-bat, stroking a run-scoring single in the second inning before pelting the fifth-inning triple to deep center field.
The latter knock came after Lombard successfully challenged twice to work a walk and Jones was initially ruled to have been hit by a pitch; instead, he returned to the plate and did more damage.
“It was what we talked about in the meeting room, being able to adjust your eyes and get them out there to a unique release point,” Jones said. “Then it’s trusting yourself to be on pitches and make good decisions.”
With veteran poise, Cole protected the cushion, picking up steam as he puts his recovery from Tommy John surgery further into the rear-view mirror.
Having embraced his four-seamer more frequently of late, Cole is generating more swings and misses. Solid results have followed, including limiting Atlanta to two runs in an efficient 82-pitch effort (60 strikes).
A self-described student of baseball history, Cole was aware of what happened in the fifth inning Saturday. He tallied 1,000 strikeouts in 139 games and 837 2/3 innings as a Yankee, the fastest to ever reach the mark in pinstripes.
The milestone came as he caught Matt Olson looking at a 98.8 mph four-seamer, ending the top of the fifth. The previous marks were held by CC Sabathia (162 games) and Roger Clemens (1,087 1/3 innings).
“It was really cool to do it today,” Cole said. “It’s how you draw it up. I just feel really blessed. I look back to where I started, and I’m taken aback a little bit. I’m really thankful to get to do it in front of a lot of great Yankees today. That just puts the bow on top.”
Saturday marked Cole’s 14th start since returning from Tommy John surgery, and he has pitched to a 2.27 ERA (eight earned runs in 31 2/3 innings) over his past five starts.
Both of Atlanta’s runs off Cole scored in the fifth inning, when he permitted four consecutive hits, including a run-scoring Mike Yastrzemski double and a Jim Jarvis RBI single. But Cole settled in, saying that he “went back to taking it one pitch at a time.”
“I guess it was just slowing it down, going one at a time, and seeing what magic we could create,” Cole said.
They may be at different stages of their careers, but Cole and the rookies share this: They all seem hungry for more. Jones said that in the cafeteria after Saturday’s game, Lombard was already quizzing teammates about Grant Holmes – Atlanta’s starter for Sunday afternoon.
“He’s super mature for his age. He loves baseball,” Jones said. “We were eating just now and he’s talking about the pitcher for tomorrow. It just kind of shows you where his head is at.”