Cole mows down White Sox in 7-0 shutout
NEW YORK - Gerrit Cole shook off rare control problems to pitch 4-hit ball over seven innings and give the Yankees their most dominant stretch of starting pitching in 89 years, leading New York over the White Sox 7-0 Saturday for a five-game winning streak.
Cole (6-2) allowed four singles in seven innings, struck out seven and walked as many as three for the first time since Aug. 31. Rebounding from his worst outing this season, he lowered his ERA to 1.81 and ended the day with a 100.8 mph fastball that Andrew Vaughn took for a called third strike, Cole's fastest pitch this season and the fourth-fastest of his big league career.
Cole extended the scoreless streak by Yankees starters to 30 innings.
Following Corey Kluber's no-hitter at Texas and outings by Domingo German against the Rangers and Jordan Montgomery in Friday night's series opener, Cole gave the Yankees four straight starts of seven shutout innings for the first time since May 11-16, 1932 (Johnny Allen vs. the St. Louis Browns, George Pipgras and Red Ruffing vs. Chicago and Lefty Gomez vs. Cleveland).
Cole's lack of control was unusual. He walked five in 57 2/3 innings coming in and had a record streak of 61 strikeouts between walks.
Justin Wilson and Luis Cessa finished the five-hitter, the Yankees major league-leading eighth shutout. They have eight shutouts in the first 46 games for the first time since 1958.
New York has outscored opponents 13-1 in the last four games and clinched its seventh straight series win, moving a season-high eight games over .500 at 27-19. The five-game winning streak matched the Yankees' season-high and made them 22-9 since a 5-10 start.
Before a season-high crowd of 14,665 on an 86-day afternoon as pandemic restrictions were eased, Gleyber Torres followed Friday night's walk-off hit with three hits and four RBIs, including a two-run double. He has raised his average to a season-high .268 from .182 before play on April 21.
Mike Ford hit a 447 foot home run over right-field bullpen
New York's defense, improved considerably in recent weeks, turned four double plays and could have had a fifth had 2B Rougned Odor not dropped a ball while making a turn. A day after starting a triple play, third baseman Gio Urshela threw out Nick Madrigal trying to score on Tim Anderson's eighth-inning grounder.
Dylan Cease (2-1) allowed a season-high five runs and five hits in 4 1/3 innings. Chicago lost consecutive games for the first time since April 15-17.
Torres hit a go-ahead, two-run double in a three-run fourth and scored on Odor's double, then hit a two-run single in the fifth off Matt Foster. Mike Ford homered leading off the sixth and Miguel Andujar hit an RBI double in the seventh.
Luke Voit went 1 for 4 with a walk as he became only the third reigning big league home run champion to hit leadoff, according to the YES Network. Washington's Frank Howard hit first on Oct. 1, 1969, against Boston when he started his final game of the regular season tied with Minnesota's Harmon Killebrew for the AL home run title. Howard went 0 for 3 and walk as Killebew homered at the Chicago White Sox. Mark McGwire, unable to play the field due to patella tendinitis in his right knee, hit first, grounded to shortstop and came out of St. Louis' game at Pittsburgh on Sept. 12, 2000.