NEW YORK — Gerrit Cole certainly has been as good during his time with the Yankees as he was Sunday.
But he’s never been better.
Cole’s terrific start to the 2023 season continued Sunday afternoon against the Twins as the ace righthander shut out the Twins, 2-0, at the Stadium.
The Yankees (10-6) won the final two games of the four-game series after the Twins (10-6) took the first two games.
Cole, who struck out 10 and allowed two hits and a walk, did not allow a hit until Donovan Solano’s two-out single in the fifth.
It was Cole's fourth career shutout in 271 starts and first since the 2021 season.
DJ LeMahieu, playing his second game since missing three straight because of quad tightness, drove in both runs. His RBI single in the third brought in Aaron Judge, who walked with one out, and his second homer of the season, a shot leading off the sixth, made it 2-0.
Twins righthander Pablo Lopez allowed two runs, seven hits and a walk over six innings over which he struck out seven.
Cole, after a blink-and-you-missed-it five-pitch eighth left him at 98 pitches, returned to the mound in the ninth with a chance at the complete game. He retired Michael A. Taylor on a pop-up to second, Edouard Julien on a flyout to left and Carlos Correa, who came into the game 6-for-10 with two homers in his career vs. Cole, on a flyout to right.
Cole, who struck out a season-low three in his previous start last Tuesday in Cleveland, struck out two in a perfect first Sunday. He struck out Julien swinging at a 97-mph fastball for the inning’s first out and ended the 19-pitch inning getting Byron Buxton swinging at a slider.
The Yankees threatened in the bottom half. Anthony Rizzo made it 14 of his first 15 games in which he’s reached base, singling with two outs. Gleyber Torres then slashed a single to right, but LeMahieu struck out swinging at a sinker to end the 19-pitch inning.
Cole walked Trevor Larnach to start the second but got Jose Miranda, whose cousin Lin-Manuel Miranda stopped by the visitor’s clubhouse before the game, grounded into a 5-4-3 double play.
The Yankees again put a runner in scoring position in the second. Willie Calhoun led off with a single and Oswaldo Cabrera took his spot at first with a fielder’s choice. A wild pitch moved Cabrera to second. Lopez, however, got Jose Trevino to ground to third and Aaron Hicks struck out looking to end the threat.
After Cole struck out three in the third, the Yankees put a third runner in scoring position in as many innings in the bottom half, and this time came through.
Judge walked with one out and Rizzo was hit by a pitch for the 204th time in his career, which tied the first baseman for eighth (with Chase Utley) on the all-time list. Torres struck out, but LeMahieu took an 0-and-1, 94-mph fastball the other way to right, the RBI single making it 1-0.
Cole struck out the side in the fourth on 10 pitches, leaving him at just 53 pitches through four hitless innings.
