BALTIMORE — Gerrit Cole still needs at least one or two more rehab starts before he might be ready to rejoin the Yankees.
But before Ryan Weathers made a case for keeping his rotation spot once Cole returns, potentially by the end of this month, Aaron Boone watched his ace’s latest rehab start Monday morning and came away impressed.
Cole built up to 77 pitches across five innings with Double-A Somerset on Sunday night while striking out eight.
“Really good,” Boone said before a 3-2 loss to the Orioles at Camden Yards. “Ripped his last heater 99 [mph] for another punch. I thought [Sunday] — working on things every time prior, and not that he wasn’t [Sunday], but I think it was a little more of a competitive Gerrit trying to get outs. I thought he threw the ball really well. Stuff was really good. Another good step for him.”
Across five rehab starts so far, Cole has shown strong command — which is often the last thing to come back for pitchers returning from Tommy John — walking only two batters while striking out 22.
“I think that’s in a pretty good place,” Boone said. “I think he probably stuff-wise ramped it up maybe even another notch [Sunday]. Hopefully now as he continues to build his pitch count, he can continue to do that through his next couple.”
Once Cole finishes off his comeback from Tommy John surgery, the Yankees could have a tough decision on their hands for how to open a rotation spot, with both Weathers and Will Warren pitching well.
Weathers took his latest shot Monday, carrying a no-hitter into the seventh inning before giving up two runs in 6 1/3 innings while lowering his ERA to 3.00.
“Just felt like I was competing in the strike zone really well, still had a few walks [three] which I wish I could take back,” Weathers said.
Two weeks after an MRI revealed his low-grade right calf strain, Giancarlo Stanton returned for imaging Monday to see how much healing has occurred and whether he might be cleared to start running.
The veteran DH has been limited to hitting since suffering the injury April 24 against the Astros, not able to do much in the way of jogging or running outside. But pending the results of Monday’s MRI, Stanton could begin taking the next steps in his road back to the active roster.
“Hopefully start ramping up running this week, based on that,” Boone said. “But we’ll see.”
In the meantime, Spencer Jones started a fourth straight game Monday — the second time at DH — since being called up to replace the injured Jasson Domínguez (AC joint sprain), who essentially replaced Stanton.
Jones went 0-for-2 with a strikeout before being pinch hit for by Paul Goldschmidt against a lefty reliever in the seventh inning.
Ben Rice had gone 0-for-13 over the weekend in Milwaukee, his first three games back from missing four games with a left hand contusion. But he snapped back into rhythm Monday, going 2-for-4, including his 13th home run of the year. … Nine of the Yankees’ 16 losses this season have been decided by one run.
