Yankees ace Gerrit Cole was able to cross off a bucket list moment this week. While he has appeared in five other All-Star Games, Tuesday was the first time he started one.
He’s the first Yankee to do so since Roger Clemens in 2001 and while he was excited to pitch in front of the Seattle crowd, his one inning of work was a bit of an adventure, and there was a lot of excitement.
National League leadoff hitter Ronald Acuna Jr. launched a Cole cutter 100.2mph to right field where Adolis Garcia was stationed. The sun was setting so the outfielder lost the ball for a second but quickly recovered and made an amazing catch.
One batter later, Freddie Freeman lined a Cole fastball 99.7mph to left field where Randy Arozarena launched himself into the wall to make the catch. Mookie Betts would ground out to end Cole’s day and his first All-Star Game start.
“A lot of adrenaline for a bullpen day. Yea, a lot of adrenaline,” Cole said with a smile after his outing was done. “That was a pretty fun experience. I thought [Rangers catcher Jonah Heim] did a great job and the outfielders were on their game for sure. I gave them some tough chances and they converted. Overall, it was really fun.”
After Arozarena’s catch, Cole did the outfielder’s patented gesture of folding his arms. The 32-year-old righty chuckled when he was asked about it saying, “That was pretty cool. I figured he deserved it. It was a sweet catch, both of them were. The first one was really tough in the sun. It seemed like it was appropriate for the moment.”
Cole was asked if having an All-Star outfield behind him made him less concerned when Acuna and Freeman hit his pitches, and the six-time All-Star was nothing but complimentary of them.
“You gotta trust your defense. I’m here to throw strikes. I was a little more worried about Freddie’s than I was about Ronald’s. Either way, you have to trust your defense,” he said. “You have world-class guys out there running down the ball. I think it worked out great. They got good swings, got out of there in nine pitches and we played some great D. It’s a pretty cool first inning.”
Cole explained that Heim was having a hard time in the bullpen with the 5 pm sun so he didn’t think Garcia had a chance at making the catch when he lost the ball, and even Arozarena’s catch was on a line drive that the Rays outfielder needed to leap into the wall to make.
When they made those catches, Cole said he had one thing go through his mind. “Somebody is on my side today.”