Gerrit Cole gets rocked as Yankees fall to Tigers 15-11

Today, the Yankees squared off with the Tigers in a game that featured an intriguing starting pitching matchup. Gerrit Cole, possibly the best pitcher on the planet right now, faced Casey Mize, who was probably the best pitching prospect on the planet last summer before injuries derailed his season.

The matchup didn’t go as planned, with Cole shockingly putting the Yankees in a deep hole. They rallied back, but ultimately fell to the Tigers by a score 15-11 in what was a truly wild game.

Game Highlights

• Cole had his first awful outing as a Yankee. In the first inning, Travis Demeritte and Miguel Cabrera struck back-to-back homers to put Detroit up 3-0. In the next inning, Demeritte and Cabrera went back-to-back again, scoring three more runs for a 6-0 lead. Both Cabrera’s dingers were absolute bombs:

• There’s nothing to take from this other than that Cole had a bad day. That said, the game illustrated that even the best can be beat when they don’t execute. Not every middle-middle fastball Cole throws will get crushed 420 feet, but today, they did.
• Here’s your defensive update for the day: Clint Frazier handled a few routine plays in left field just fine, but Miguel Andujar committed an error at first base.
• Andujar did rope a two-run double off the top of the wall, narrowly missing what would have been a Grand Slam, cutting Detroit’s lead to 6-2 and starting the comeback. In the fourth, Kyle Higashioka hit a solo homer, and Thairo Estrada scored Rosell Herrera on a groundout. The next inning, Higashioka hit a two-run dinger, Estrada doubled home Herrera, and Mike Tauchman singled home Estrada to give the Yankees their first lead at 8-7.
• Brooks Kriske relieved Cole and yielded a solo shot to Brandon Dixon. Jordan Montgomery came on in the fifth and went on to yield solo homers to Jeimer Candelario, Jose Azocar, and Brady Policelli, as well as a two-run dinger to Jake Rogers, finishing with five runs allowed across three innings. Luis Cessa kept things rolling by allowing three more runs in the seventh. Just a brutal day, with Detroit blasting nine home runs total.

The Yankees play again tomorrow, and though they don’t yet have a scheduled starter, whoever it is will presumably fare better than the pitchers fared today. Tom Eshleman will start for the Orioles as the Yankees clash with Baltimore starting at 6:35 EST in Tampa. The game won’t be televised or broadcast on radio.

Box Score