Cole's Pitching, Rays' Errors Give Yanks Win

In spite of the many good performances by the Yankees this season, there were still concerns going into last night's series opener against the Tampa Bay Rays. One was that the Yankees have had trouble with the Rays. Another is that Gerrit Cole has not been pitching like an ace.

Fortunately, by starting last night's game, Cole was able to address both concerns. How did he do it? He said, "Hello, concerns!"

Okay, now that the Honeymooners reference is out of the way... Cole pitched 6 shutout innings, allowing only 5 hits and 1 walk, striking out 7. He did his job.

Unfortunately, Corey Kluber, who was a Yankee last season, did his job pretty well, too. But not quite well enough. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you. With 1 out in the bottom of the 4th inning, he walked Giancarlo Stanton. Then Gleyber Torres hit a ball out to right field, where the Rays' Manuel Margot mishandled it for an error. Kluber struck Matt Carpenter out, but Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled to left. Randy Arozarena probably wouldn't have thrown Stanton out at the plate, no matter what. But his throw went wild, and Torres was able to score, too.

And that was all the scoring in the ballgame. Wandy Peralta pitched a scoreless 7th, Michael King a scoreless 8th, and Clay Holmes a scoreless 9th. Yankees 2, Rays 0. WP: Cole (6-1). SV: Holmes (10). LP: Kluber (3-3).

Brian Cashman's "Bomb them out of the yard, so it doesn't matter how good our pitching is" strategy hasn't always worked. So the pitching has had to be good. Counting last night's game, the Yankees are now 5-3 when they score 2 or fewer runs, and 10-4 when they score 3 or fewer.

The Yankees now lead the American League Eastern Division by 9 games over the Toronto Blue Jays, and 10 over the Rays. They lead the race for home-field advantage throughout the AL Playoffs by 7 1/2 over the Houston Astros, and 10 1/2 over the Minnesota Twins, each team leading their Division.

The series with the Rays continues tonight, with Nestor Cortes starting against Shane McClanahan.