by Gerrit Cole didn’t make the historic ace at this time of year and insisted on taking the ball with his team facing elimination in Game 4.
GOOD.
The Yankees nevertheless won Tuesday night with him as their cheerleader.
So now he has to do the modern ace thing. He is completely rested. The way the Yankees imagined putting the building blocks together for a baseball miracle was to win Game 4 when the Dodgers were throwing a bullpen game, then turn to their ace to lug them back to across the country. The Yankees’ bottom order, in particular, and the length of their bullpen — their co-stars, basically — were the fulcrum of a season-saving 11-4 victory Tuesday evening.
“We won a game and having, you know, the best pitcher in baseball show up for us [Wednesday] it obviously gives us a sense of hope to bring this back to Los Angeles,” Nestor Cortes said.
In Cole’s right hand will be the Yankees’ season, a bit of his legacy and a chance to make a bit of history as the Yankees attempt to write a bigger story that motivates documentaries.
The smaller-scale story is that none of the previous 24 teams that lost three games to none in a World Series even forced a Game 6. The Yankees became just the fourth of 25 to avoid a sweep.
“You got your guy on the mound, you got the reign [AL] Cy Young Award winner,” Luke Weaver said. “You have the guy who was great in the first game. You have everything he needs in the arsenal. Let him go and see what happens.
Cole signed, at the time, the largest pitching contract in history for this game. For the Yankees. For himself. They wanted the ace that could take them to the Canyon of Heroes. Cole wanted championships that eluded him. In the fifth year of marriage, here he is with a Yankee season and his legacy on the line. With a game that is both a lifeline for a team and a barometer for himself.
“It’s one of the most important things we’ve talked about [after falling behind 0-3]”, Jose Trevino said. “Put the ball in Cole’s hands and then, after that, put the ball in Rodon’s hands and then, after that, we’ll see what happens.”
They’re still a long way from what’s happening, far from even securing a trip back to Los Angeles. So it’s up to Cole — now on complete rest and with the chance to empty his remaining tank in 2024 — to get the Yankees on a plane again in 2024. Forcing the Dodgers to start thinking more seriously about the implications history of a plane explosion. lead of three games to none.
Cole said there was no conversation about his failure in Game 4. Because the right-hander missed the first two months of the season with an elbow injury, Aaron Boone figured he wouldn’t would not be wise to push, even with the season on the brink. .
But now on complete rest and with the Yankees having deployed relievers for 11 ¹/₃ of 18 innings Monday and Tuesday, Cole must cover at least the six innings on 88 pitches he contributed in Game 1 while giving up one run . They need a star to honor the supporting cast that allowed the Yankees to avoid the ignominy of being swept.
The bottom third of the Yankees lineup went 4 for 34 (.118) with 12 strikeouts in this best-of-seven. But Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells and Alex Verdugo had excellent at-bats and participated in the Yankees’ first seven runs. Volpe stood out the most. His Grand Slam in the third set was a game-changer and energized a crowd of 49,354 people, without volume. Volpe, who was an 8-year-old Yankee fan when he attended the Canyon of Heroes parade in 2009, played a game worthy of his idol, Derek Jeter. He made some sparkling defensive plays, stole two bases and used his bat and legs to create the first of a five-run eighth inning that broke the game.
That first inning made the score 7-4 and up until that point, Gleyber Torres, Juan Soto, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton were hitless in 11 at-bats. But Torres hit a three-run homer, Soto doubled and Judge drove in his first World Series run.
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At that point, the Dodgers were in full punt mode, throwing a bullpen game and refusing to use any of their four key relievers — lefties Anthony Banda and Alex Vesia and righties Michael Kopech and Blake Treinen. They will be all new to back up Game 5 starter Jack Flaherty, who pitched so well against Cole in Game 1.
This may be a winning strategy. But it allowed a group of Yankee hitters to start feeling good about themselves and the Bronx crowd to be very Bronx-y again (with the promise of more on Wednesday) and make sure the ball would reach the Yankee ace.
“We knew in the back of our minds that it was as bad as one loss and two and three feelings,” Clay Holmes said. “We knew what a win could look like and we have Gerrit tomorrow and maybe the momentum could build.”
The ball and the story are in Gerrit Cole’s right hand.
