NEW YORK -- During his two-week absence from the Yankees’ rotation, Gerrit Cole was mainly limited to playing catch with his wife, Amy, and teammate Jordan Montgomery -- a far cry from his usual between-starts discipline. As he walked to the mound on Monday, the ace mentally prepared for a scenario in which he had absolutely no idea where the ball was going.

Instead, Cole appeared as though he’d hardly missed a beat. The right-hander struck out nine over 5 2/3 strong innings of one-run ball in his return from the COVID-19 injured list, and Joey Gallo mashed a two-run homer -- his third long ball in three games -- as the Yankees edged the Angels, 2-1, in a makeup game at Yankee Stadium.

“The plan was just to attack the strike zone in the first and go from there,” Cole said. “I played some good catch. I thought we used our weapons good tonight and mixed up some pitches. We were a bit unpredictable and executing at a good level.”

The Yankees improved to a Major League-best 20-8 since July 17, moving a season-high 14 games over .500. New York trails the Rays by 5 1/2 games in the American League East, sitting only two games behind the second-place Red Sox and 1 1/2 games behind the A’s for the second AL Wild Card spot. Boston comes to town for a doubleheader on Tuesday.

“I’m expecting it to be crazy,” Gallo said. “I think it’s going to be a little different than a normal baseball game here at Yankee Stadium.”

Cole held Shohei Ohtani, a strong contender for the AL’s Most Valuable Player Award, hitless in all three of their showdowns. Cole reared back for a 99.1 mph fastball to strike out Ohtani in the first, retired him on a flyout in the third and a deeper drive in the sixth -- one that prompted Cole to kick his left leg skyward, fearing a homer.

“I’ve had some good battles with him over the years,” Cole said. “He makes you nervous every time he’s in the box, especially in a one-run game. Maybe I got a bit fortunate there.”

With Giancarlo Stanton securing Ohtani’s fly ball a few steps in front of the right-field wall and center fielder Jonathan Davis having made a sharp running catch to steal a Jo Adell extra-base hit in the fifth, Justin Upton’s first-inning homer was the only blemish on Cole’s line.

Though Cole lost a few pounds due to the illness and said that he was fatigued by the time Zack Britton relieved him in the sixth inning, Cole touched 100 mph while generating 16 swings and misses. He allowed just two hits with a walk over a 90-pitch effort.

“We’ve been missing having that big man toeing the rubber every five days for us,” Aaron Judge said. “He’s not only our ace, he’s a big part of this clubhouse and this team. To see him go out there and do his thing, I think you can ask every single guy -- we missed that.”

Hey, I’m hitting here
Gallo’s homer, his 29th of the season and fourth as a Yankee, produced the Yanks’ only scoring off left-hander José Suarez.

As Gallo rounded the bases, at least one fan could be seen waving the red, white and green colors of the Italian flag, a display that Gallo took note of.

“I remember coming here with the Rangers and thinking, ‘Wow, this would be a cool place to play,’” Gallo said. “It makes me proud. I just ordered a shirt today that says ‘Italian Stallions’ on it with me and [Anthony] Rizzo. I thought it was too good to pass up.”

The Yanks had a prime opportunity to add more runs in the sixth, when Suarez walked all three batters he faced before exiting. Facing reliever Steve Cishek, Stanton struck out and Luke Voit bounced into a double play.

What a relief
The missed chance didn’t hurt, because New York’s bullpen combined for 3 1/3 innings of scoreless, one-hit ball.

Coming off a rough weekend that included a blown save in the Field of Dreams Game and a confession that he no longer felt deserving of the ninth inning, Britton relieved Cole and struck out cleanup hitter Jared Walsh to end the sixth.

“I needed somebody to pick me up,” Cole said. “Zack had a good night. It was good to see him get a hold and get out of that in a clean situation.”

Albert Abreu retired all five batters he faced, two via strikeout, and Joely Rodríguez froze Ohtani on a 94.2 mph sinker to end the eighth. Chad Green pitched around a single in the ninth for his fourth save.

“I definitely think this could be a springboard for us going forward,” Green said. “A lot of guys stepped up in some big innings tonight. It’s no secret that we’ve struggled at times to close out games, have clean innings and get out of some big situations. Hopefully, tonight’s that step in the right direction that we need.”