KANSAS CITY – Two games into his 2026 comeback tour, Gerrit Cole has yet to hit a speed bump.
Cole picked up against the Royals on Wednesday night where he had left off last Friday against Tampa Bay by stringing zeros across the scoreboard. The veteran right-hander, who endured a 569-day absence due to Tommy John surgery, was both pitch efficient and in strikeout mode during the Yankees’ 7-0 win at Kauffman Stadium.
And whereas Cole came out after six innings and 72 pitches against the Rays, he took the extra step Wednesday by heading to the mound for the seventh inning with 10 strikeouts and no walks on just 70 pitches. The Royals had a runner at first with two outs when manager Aaron Boone went to the mound for a pitching change with the Yankees up, 5-0.
Cole showed his stuff by striking out two in each of the opening three innings. But he needed some defensive help from right fielder Aaron Judge to keep Kansas City off the scoreboard in the third. With a runner at second and two outs, Maikel Garcia lined a single to right. But Judge came up throwing and got Michael Massey at the plate.
The 10-strikeout game was the 28th of Cole’s Yankees career, which ranks No. 1 on the club’s all-time list.
Cole wound up throwing 79 pitches (59 strikes) over his 6 2/3 innings while taking a big step forward as he settles back into the Yankees’ rotation. The win was New York’s 13th straight against the Royals in the regular season.
“Maybe the first game was the appetizer. That was the main course right there,” Boone said. “He was dominant and had everything going.”
Cole went to a three-ball count on only two occasions. Garcia, the first hitter Cole faced, smashed a liner to left field that José Caballero was able to handle. Then the defense helped Cole again in the third when Judge made his perfect throw home to keep the Royals from scoring first.
“Aaron made a great play,” Cole said. “The mood in the dugout was, ‘OK, we’ve got to have a little urgency.’ That was just a big tone-setting play for us.”
Despite an ERA of 0.00 through 12 2/3 innings, Cole said he still has things to work on as he re-establishes himself after missing the entire 2025 season.
“I think it’s coming along,” Cole said. “There’s still stuff to work on in general. We moved the ball around the strike zone well tonight. Maybe we didn’t get through the fastballs as well as we could have. But with what we had tonight, I thought we used it well.”
The Yankees gave Cole a 2-0 lead in the fourth thanks to Ben Rice’s RBI triple and a sacrifice fly by Judge. They tacked on three more in the seventh, providing a big cushion for Cole as he took the mound for what would be his final inning.
After a one-out single by Salvador Perez, Cole got Carter Jensen on a popup. Boone decided to go to the bullpen at that juncture.
“Didn’t want to push it,” Boone said. “We were fresh in the bullpen, and I felt like they could bring it home.”
Boone said he is “impressed but not surprised” by what Cole has accomplished in his two starts.
“I thought we were watching excellence,” Boone said. “Don’t want to overstate it or understate it. This was just an efficient, surgical outing where he had everything going.
“It just reminds you of who he is. How great and consistent of a pitcher he has been. To see him go through the process to get back to this, it’s fun to watch.”