PHOENIX — Who needs Aaron Judge?
The Yankees do, of course, but they began life without him again on Friday night in encouraging fashion.
In a tribute to Judge, who has fueled much of their first-inning damage over the years, the Yankees put up a five spot in the opening frame before Gerrit Cole took care of the rest in an important bounce-back start.
Coming into the day having allowed seven home runs over his last two starts, Cole gave up another but limited the damage to just one on the way to the Yankees’ 9-2 win over the Diamondbacks at Chase Field.
On a day that began with news of Judge going on the injured list with a right calf strain that very much threatens his availability for the postseason, the Yankees (89-64) inched within four games of the Rays for the division with nine games remaining, while staying 5 ¹/₂ games clear of the Red Sox for the top AL wild card.
“We’re obviously bummed for Aaron and Aaron’s probably bummed too,” Cole said. “But we’ve been in this position before this year, so unfortunately, it’s our reality at this point. We came out tonight with a good mentality and we played really good baseball and that’s a recipe for success, regardless of who’s in the lineup. Aaron’s a quick healer and a hard worker, and he’ll be back sooner than later for us. In his absence, we’ll hold the fort.”
Barring a Rays collapse, the Yankees will almost certainly be facing the Red Sox in the AL wild-card series, and Aaron Boone said before Friday’s game that he would expect Cole to make a start in that series despite getting roughed up of late.
Cole then took the mound and backed up that faith, tossing six innings of two-run ball in his penultimate start of the regular season.
The runs both came on Corbin Carroll’s two-run shot in the second inning, which came on a 97 mph fastball, the pitch that opponents have hit hard lately against Cole.
And though he still only generated four whiffs on 20 swings against his fastball, he found a way to minimize the damage and get back on track.
“I think a lot of people probably overreacted to a couple of outings that, frankly, are inevitable in a long season,” Boone said. “The reality is he’s having an outstanding season, he’s throwing the ball really well, and a great pitcher like him is going to be able to make some adjustments when you have a couple where they get to you.”
The veteran right-hander struck out six while walking none and scattering just four hits — all of which came off his fastball — against the Diamondbacks (80-74), who are on the outside looking in for the final NL wild card.
Boone said Cole “grinded pretty hard” between starts, which the former Cy Young winner indicated was about tightening up his delivery to create more deception.
“I don’t think we did a perfect job tonight,” Cole said. “I think we moved the needle in the right direction, but there’s still some meat on the bone there. It’s not easy, but it’s necessary. It’s the big leagues.”
It helped that the Yankees gave Cole a 5-0 lead to work with before he threw a single pitch, as they made Diamondbacks All-Star lefty Eduardo Rodríguez throw 45 pitches in the top of the first.
Each of the first five batters reached base, as Paul Goldschmidt walked, Cody Bellinger singled, Heliot Ramos walked, Ben Rice walked and Amed Rosario singled.
One out later, George Lombard Jr. roped a two-run single up the middle to make it 5-0.
Rice added a solo shot off Rodríguez in the third inning, for his 39th home run of the season — a number Boone insisted he predicted back in spring training — before Lombard knocked him out of the game in the sixth with a home run of his own that made it 7-2.
“Obviously we were missing [Judge] for a long time there, so this one is especially hard to swallow, him just being back for a brief period and now already gone,” said Rice, who added a triple and two walks. “But we have no choice but to keep playing hard, keep doing our thing.”
