MIAMI — In what has the makings of a Cy Young season, there have been plenty of games of dominance, of overpowering stuff, of opposing bats that get buzzed through.
For Gerrit Cole, Sunday’s was not one of those games.
But the ace battled rather than bulldozed and was good enough on an afternoon when the Yankees’ bullpen was not.
Cole survived before Clay Holmes collapsed in a five-run bottom of the ninth for a crushing, 8-7 loss to the Marlins at loanDepot Park.
Cole was solid, if not spectacular, and notched his 19th start allowing fewer than three runs this season, which is best in the majors.
Gunning for his first Cy Young award, Cole allowed two runs on six hits and two walks with six strikeouts in six innings, an impressive duration considering his first few frames.
Through three innings, Cole had allowed one cheap run and thrown 59 pitches, not nearly as efficient as he wanted to be through misplays and long at-bats.
“I felt like they were working the pitch count a little bit,” said Cole, who is tops in the AL in innings pitched (156 ¹/₃). “I was pretty frustrated with the two walks. Kind of pushed the pitch count up a bit.”
In the first, Cole appeared to be out of the inning with a double play, but first baseman Jake Bauers dropped the throw from Gleyber Torres.
Cole then needed eight pitches to strike out Bryan De La Cruz.
Two innings later, another potential inning-ending double play was not completed.
Josh Bell hit a tapper to Cole, who threw high to Anthony Volpe at second base.
Volpe corralled the ball but bobbled it as he tried to get it out of his glove, so he could not get the out at first base.
A batter later, Luis Arraez fisted an RBI single into left field to give the Marlins their first run.
The botched double play cost Cole a run and five more pitches.
“Thought Cole was good. Grinded,” manager Aaron Boone said of the righty, who is surrounded by Clarke Schmidt and a series of question marks in a dangerously thin rotation. “They worked him pretty hard there in the first few innings.”
Cole consistently worked himself out of trouble, sometimes in a manner that he had not earlier this year.
Cole’s dominance in April and May largely came through pounding his fastball and slider.
As the season has worn on, he has mixed up his pitch usage and begun leaning on a cutter he had all but abandoned.
With two runners on in the sixth, Cole turned to the cutter to strike out De La Cruz, though Jake Burger followed with an RBI single for the final run charged to Cole.
“[The cutter has] added another wrinkle of unpredictability,” said Cole, who was pulled after 99 pitches. “The ability to keep guys off the fastball if I want them off the fastball. The ability to keep them off the slider if I want them off the slider.”
Marlins hitters were thrown off, but so were Yankees relievers.