Cole at benchmark that sparked '19 surge

NEW YORK -- Gerrit Cole was arguably the finest pitcher on the planet through his final two-thirds of 2019, going undefeated with a 1.78 ERA in his final 22 regular-season starts. It took time for the right-hander to hit that groove: through his first 11 starts, he’d been rather ordinary.

In Cole’s first 11 starts of last year, he was 4-5 with a 4.11 ERA, a slow start that voters weighed when considering his candidacy for the American League’s Cy Young Award. Cole’s splendid 326 strikeouts and 187 ERA+ led the Majors, but a case could be made that teammate Justin Verlander enjoyed the more consistent season from wire to wire.

Why bring this up, nearly a year after Cole’s final outing in a Houston uniform? With 10 Yankees starts under his belt, Cole believes that he is rounding into that midseason form, which he displayed in a commanding two-hit, seven-inning shutout of the Orioles in the first game of Friday’s doubleheader.

“Normally, I'd have another 23, 24 [starts] at this point,” Cole said. “It's pretty much on par with last year’s start. With what we had in a couple of games prior to this, I thought we did a good job and we maximized what we needed to do. We're always trying to get stuff a little better.”

Cole, 5-3 with a 3.20 ERA as a Yankee, said that in his first four or five starts this year, he had not been focused on fine-tuning his pitches, instead making sure that he got out of the gate on solid ground.

This was the point of last season when Cole made his most important adjustments, and he believes that his repertoire is continuing to gain quality as he becomes more settled in.

“Our guys are eight, nine, 10 starts in, which is essentially the first quarter of the season,” manager Aaron Boone said. “There are challenges that have gone with this year in every way, shape and form. I feel like, for the most part, our starters now are starting to throw the ball well.”

Comeback trail

With Aaron Judge (right calf strain) and Giancarlo Stanton (left hamstring strain) scheduled to report to the alternate site in Moosic, Pa., this weekend, the Yankees also anticipate activating Gio Urshela (bone spur in right elbow) from the injured list when eligible on Tuesday. Urshela could take at-bats on Sunday, Boone said.

“Those are some big names and impact players we’re talking about,” Boone said. “There is some excitement in knowing there’s a chance those guys are going to be back real soon.”

This date in Yankees history

Sept. 12, 1996: Bernie Williams homered from both sides of the plate and drove in eight runs in the Yankees’ 12-3 victory at Tiger Stadium.