Gerrit Cole took matters into his own hands Tuesday night when he deemed that the opposing batter wasn’t being too respectful while at the plate. No, he was not subtle about it.
In the top of the seventh inning, the Yankees starter was facing off against the Mariners’ José Caballero and Cole didn’t like what he was seeing. After hitting a foul ball, Caballero flipped his bat and caught it then proceeded to take his time getting back into the batter’s box after a timeout.
Cole decided to send a message and hurled his fastest pitch of the night. Only he sent it completely over Caballero’s head and past home plate.
Gerrit Cole was frustrated by Jose Caballero's antics between pitches. Cole responded by throwing his fastest pitch of the night, throwing another one over his head and then jawing at him after striking him out pic.twitter.com/9lFaMmhSTo
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) June 21, 2023
Cole went on to strike Caballero out and didn’t do so quietly. He appeared to stare him down and wagged his finger toward the Seattle dugout. After the 3–1 win, Cole addressed the incident and said “sometimes the high fast ball can be a really effective pitch.”
"Sometimes the high fastball can be a really effective pitch...gotta change eye levels" 😂
— New York Post Sports (@nypostsports) June 21, 2023
Gerrit Cole explains the air mail to the backstop, interaction with Jose Caballero & helping snap Yankees 4-game losing streak
READ: https://t.co/WVQSlFAeXu pic.twitter.com/8vKNBxP0ED
He also said that Mariners manager Scott Servais had some “choice words” for him after the strikeout to end the inning and was wagging his finger at him, prompting Cole to do the same. Finally, the five-time All Star acknowledged what Caballero was doing at the plate.
“It seems like that’s his game,” Cole said. “I just work with it.”
