Gerrit Cole Just Did Something He Hasn’t Done Since 2023 Against His Old Team

Gerrit Cole is starting to look like himself again. And for the Yankees, that timing could be everything.

The New York ace punched out 11 Pirates on Wednesday in a seven-inning outing against his former team. According to ESPN’s Jorge Castillo, it was the first time Cole hit double-digit strikeouts since 2023. That year, of course, he won the AL Cy Young.

Cole’s return from Tommy John surgery has been a mixed bag so far. He has posted a 3.92 ERA over 11 starts with 66 strikeouts in 62 innings. Not vintage Cole, but getting closer with each outing. Wednesday’s start was his best in terms of swing-and-miss stuff. The 11 K’s came against a Pittsburgh lineup that isn’t exactly stacked, but still — the fastball had life, the slider was biting, and the command looked sharper than it has all season.

He did give up two homers and three earned runs in the loss. The Yankees dropped the first game of their doubleheader 5-3. But the bigger picture is what matters here.

New York doesn’t need Cole to be the untouchable ace he was in 2023. Cam Schlittler has emerged as one of the best pitchers in baseball, taking some of that burden off. What they need is for Cole to be reliable. To give them quality starts in October. To be a guy the team can trust when the playoffs start.

That version of Cole looked like he was coming back on Wednesday.

Returning from Tommy John at 35 years old is no small thing. Plenty of pitchers never get back to their old selves. But Cole has now had enough time to rebuild arm strength and feel for his pitches. The early rust appears to be wearing off. With each start, he looks a little more comfortable out there. A little more like the guy who dominated the league for years.

There’s also the freshness factor. Because Cole missed the first chunk of the season, he’ll have fewer innings on his arm than most playoff pitchers. That could be an advantage in October when other aces are running on fumes. It’s not nothing.

The Yankees will need Max Fried’s return to shore up the rotation too. He was set to pitch the second game of the doubleheader against Pittsburgh. But the rotation is starting to round into form at the right time. And Cole is a big part of that.

One start doesn’t prove anything permanent. But 11 strikeouts against a team he knows well? That’s a signal worth paying attention to.