Dominant early, Cole drops 3rd straight start

Gerrit Cole's fastball showed some extra sizzle early on Saturday, hinting at the ingredients for a special evening in the Inner Harbor. Through five innings, the Yankees’ ace seemed nearly untouchable, but that magic dissolved into another forgettable performance.

Cole registered 10 strikeouts for the third time in a Yankees uniform, but the Orioles batted around against the right-hander in a five-run sixth inning, a frame that opened with a DJ Stewart homer and included a costly Thairo Estrada throwing error in a 6-1 loss at Camden Yards.

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“I’ll try to take the good stuff from it, but in the end, it just feels like it wasn't good enough,” Cole said. “I thought there were some really nice pitches tonight, some really nice sequences. But in the end, when the biggest pitches mattered, we just kind of fizzled out.”

José Iglesias’ fourth-inning double marked the only solid contact against Cole until the sixth, when Stewart’s first hit of the season traveled over the right-field wall and toward Eutaw Street. Cole struck out eight of the first nine men he faced, retiring the first 11.

“Tonight was off to a special start,” manager Aaron Boone said. “If you’re watching that game tonight, that’s as dominant as you can be for five innings.”

Estrada’s wild throw to first preceded a pair of two-out walks and Ryan Mountcastle’s two-run single, which came on an 0-2 fastball up in the zone.

“He had our number early in the game,” Stewart said. “We didn’t give up any at-bats, kept grinding and got him in the stretch. He hadn’t been in the stretch all night. We were able to get momentum and change his rhythm up."

Rio Ruiz followed Mountcastle’s hit by driving in another two runs, credited with a “fan interference” double that was fielded in play by a ballboy. Cole refused to blame Estrada’s miscue for the ugly inning.

“I should have stopped the bleeding,” Cole said. “I should have picked him up.”

Though four of the five runs charged to Cole were unearned, it marked the right-hander’s third consecutive loss, his first time losing three straight starts since July 30-Aug. 10, 2018, while with the Astros. Cole’s three-start losing streak followed a run of 28 consecutive unbeaten regular-season outings, dating to last season.

“It’s a fickle game, and it can change really quickly,” Cole said. “It’s a game of inches. I threw a lot of competitive pitches throughout the night. They strung some good swings together at the right time. It’s why we don’t take any pitch for granted.”

Miguel Yajure surrendered Stewart’s second homer of the game in the seventh, another solo shot. Yajure was optioned to the alternate training site after Saturday’s game.

Soft sticks
The Yankees’ bats slumbered against left-hander Keegan Akin, who tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings in his second big league start, scattering three hits and striking out eight.

Former Yankees farmhand Dillon Tate recorded four outs in relief before Clint Frazier broke up the shutout with a homer off Paul Fry in the eighth, Frazier’s fifth of the season. The Yankees went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position, leaving 10 men on base.

“It's no secret that we're all struggling right now,” Frazier said. “It's a hard game and we're missing some guys, but there's no excuses on that end. When it rains, it pours. We're trying to find cover.”

Tough times
Given a half-day off as the designated hitter, Gary Sánchez recorded the fifth golden sombrero of his career, striking out in all four of his plate appearances. Sánchez has whiffed in seven consecutive at-bats and in 48 of his 100 at-bats this season.

“We’ve got to find a way with Gary,” Boone said. “He's just too talented to have some of these at-bats that are happening. We've got to do some things to help him get going, because he's too important to our offense.”

Sánchez’s hitless evening lowered his batting average to .130, and his struggles are just one component of the team’s frustration. Since beginning the season with 16 wins in their first 22 games, the Yankees have lost 12 of their last 17.

“I'd like to see us turn the corner and start going in the right direction,” Cole said. “If we don't rattle off five, six, seven wins in a row -- that's fine. But we’ve got to see improvement across the board and we’ve got to start picking each other up.”