Former Pittsburgh Pirates ace let down in World Series loss to the New York Yankees

Former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole found himself in the midst of a perennial crisis in the New York Yankees’ 7-6 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers to lose the World Series in five games.

Cole, who was the Pirates’ No. 1 overall pick in 2011 and played five seasons in Pittsburgh, almost got off to a perfect start. He held the Dodgers hitless through the first four innings, striking out three batters and walking two as the Yankees jumped out to a 5-0 lead.

Then the wheels started falling off.

After a leadoff single by Dodgers center fielder Kiké Hernández, Yankees center fielder Aaron Judge and shortstop Anthony Volpe each committed an error, loading the bases with no outs. Cole took out Gavin Lux and Shohei Ohtani to get one takedown to escape the jam. Dodgers superstar Mookie Betts hit a routine groundball to Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo, but Cole failed to cover first base, allowing Betts to reach base and score a run.

Then the wheels fell off completely.

The Dodgers further took advantage of the numerous errors, as a two-run single by Freddie Freeman and a two-run double by Teoscar Hernandez accounted for five unearned runs in the inning to tie the game. The Yankees’ five unearned runs are the most in an elimination game in World Series history Jay Cuda.

Cole returned to work in a scoreless sixth inning and left with two outs in the seventh inning and the Yankees led 6-5. He finished his night with 6.2 innings, no earned runs allowed and he gave up four hits, walked four and struck out six.

Cole went 1-0 with a 2.17 ERA over five starts in the playoffs. In the World Series, he made two starts and allowed just one earned run over 12.2 innings pitched. The Yankees lost both of Cole’s starts.

Colleague former Pirates pitcher Clay Holmes replaced Cole and got out of trouble by striking out Max Muncy with runners on first and second base. The Dodgers completed their comeback in the top of the eighth inning with a pair of runs on sacrifice flies after the bases were loaded with no outs.

Cole went 59-42 with a 3.50 ERA while striking out 734 batters in 782 1/3 innings during his five seasons in Pittsburgh from 2013-2018. The former Pirates ace was then traded to the Houston Astros, where he became one of the best pitchers in baseball.

Cole was 35-10 with a 2.68 ERA in his two-year stint with the Astros before signing a nine-year, $324 million deal with New York during the 2020 offseason. Cole is 59-28 with a 3.12 ERA during his five seasons with the Yankees and won his first Cy Young Award in 2023.

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