NEW YORK — Gerrit Cole was still looking for the right tone. The Yankees were still looking for their ace.
Cole, who struggled in his season debut, didn’t look dominant Wednesday night either. He gave up two home runs and a double to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., as the Yankees lost to the Blue Jays, 6-4, at Yankee Stadium. Guerrero also hit three home runs, driving in four.
Gleyber Torres, Aaron Judge and Anthony Rizzo homered and DJ LeMahieu drove in a run.
Rizzo hammered his third of the season off Jose Berrios in the fifth inning and Judge hit his first of 2022 immediately after that. Josh Donaldson doubled and scored on LeMahieu’s line drive to right field. Torres hit his first of the season in the bottom of the eighth.
But it wasn’t enough to beat Guerrero and the Blue Jays. Guerrero's third homer came off Jonathan Loaisiga in the eighth inning — who, half an inning prior, needed to get his bloodied finger bandaged after Aaron Hicks stepped on it — to break open a tied game.
The Yankees signed Cole to a nine-year, $324 million deal as one of the most dominant pitchers of his generation. That was before MLB cracked down on the illegal sticky substances pitchers were exploiting for better spin rates and command.
Cole regained some of his swagger late last summer, but pitched with a lingering hamstring injury at the end of the year. He lost it all when he got hammered in the AL wild-card game.
Cole needs to show the Yankees and their fans he is the ace they courted and signed to a record-setting contract for a pitcher in December 2019. He needs to rebuild the Yankee fans’ confidence that he will be the bulldog they need in big matchups and big moments, like playoff games.
Wednesday night, Cole was still struggling to find his way after an owners’ lockout-shortened spring training and an inconsistent 2021. He went into Wednesday's game, knowing it was important to establish a tone.
“We’re still settling in but that’s what we’re trying to do here and set the standard of how we want to play and how we want to go about our business,” Cole said Tuesday. “It’s not always going to align with the most desirable results, especially early, not that you necessarily have to have it early. But the point is rather you want to set a level of execution that you want to be able to maintain and work up from here.”
There is room for improvement.
Wednesday night, Cole labored through 5 2/3 innings, allowing three earned runs on four hits. He walked one and struck out six. Cole had 17 swing-and-misses, including four each on his four-seam fastball, his cutter and slider.
Guerrero hammered a hanging slider in the first inning for his first of the night off Cole. In the third, with Bo Bichette on, Guerrero turned on a 98-mile per hour fastball up and inside and sent a laser into left-center field for his third homer of the season and second of the night. In the sixth, Guerrero went down and got a 98-mph fastball at the knees and lined it into the right-field corner for a double.
The Yankees’ bright side was that Cole held every Blue Jay not named after their Hall of Fame father to just one hit.
“Every time Gerrit takes the mound it’s a big start,” manager Aaron Boone said before Wednesday’s game. “He’s one of the best pitchers in the sport and obviously someone that we count on a lot. But I’m really excited about where Gerrit is right now. Both in his physical and mental preparation, I feel like he’s he’s in a good spot. Just team-wise and comfort-wise.
“And I think he’s poised to go out and have a great year and hopefully.”
But Cole isn’t at the top of his game right now.
