Gerrit Cole reached 99.6 mph with his four-seam fastball and threw 86 pitches over 5⅓ innings for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre against the Syracuse Mets in what was likely his next-to-last minor league injury rehabilitation start before rejoining the New York Yankees, the report says.
Returning from reconstructive elbow surgery, Cole threw 56 pitches for strikes and averaged 97 mph with his fastball in the outing, the report says. He allowed one run and six hits with six strikeouts and one walk in his sixth minor league start, the first at Triple-A after two for High-A Hudson Valley and three for Double-A Somerset.
Jackson Cluff opened the third with a first-pitch slider single, and Kevin Parada followed with an opposite-field bloop single. Ji Hwan Bae reached on an infield single as first baseman Ernesto Martinez Jr. was slow with the toss; Cluff kept running and scored just ahead of Cole’s throw to the plate, the report says. Cole also gave up three straight hits in the fourth, and Eric Wagaman doubled before being thrown out at the plate by left fielder Jonathan Ornelas on a Yonny Hernández hit.
Cole was pulled after getting an 0-2 count on Wagaman and was relieved by Yerry De Los Santos with a 2-1 lead, the report says. He has a 4.71 ERA over 28⅔ innings, allowing 28 hits while striking out 28 and walking three. His pitch count was up from 77 in his previous outing, per the report.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Friday that Cole probably will make one more minor league start after this weekend, the report says. The report also notes that though position players’ minor-league rehab assignments are limited to 20 days, pitchers have 30 days and those recovering from Tommy John surgery might receive three consecutive 10-day extensions. Elmer Rodriguez was recalled by the Yankees and is set to start Sunday’s Subway Series finale at the Mets; with Max Fried sidelined by a bone bruise in his left elbow, New York’s rotation also includes Carlos Rodon, Cam Schlittler, Will Warren and Ryan Weathers, the report says.
