ARLINGTON, Texas — Gerrit Cole’s scoreless streak ended at 25 ²/₃ innings, but the Yankees ace still recovered in time to pick up another win.
Cole gave up a pair of runs in the sixth inning against the Rangers, but limited the damage and kept the Yankees’ lead intact for what became a 4-2 victory Thursday night at Globe Life Field.
“[My confidence] comes from my teammates,” Cole said. “It comes from my preparation. And it comes from just being in a good spot to execute a lot of pitches. Obviously [a three-run lead] allows us to attack the zone. We’ve just played good baseball more often than not. It’s something you feed off of as a pitcher.”
Cole mostly cruised into the sixth inning before he loaded the bases with no outs on a pair of singles and a four-pitch walk.
After striking out Adolis Garcia, he nearly got out of the inning unscathed, but he dropped the throw from second base while covering first on what could have been a double play.
Instead, a run scored.
The Rangers added another on a weak chopper to make it 3-2, but Cole was able to end the scoring there.
“Even that inning where they scored the couple runs, you see he’s slowing the game down really well,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He’s staying in control even when things get a little haywire. You get a little unlucky there with the check swing and he doesn’t complete the double play at first and then the dribbler to score another run. He’s not affected by it. It’s on to executing the next thing. I thought he did a really good job of that tonight.”
Lou Trivino is going for a second opinion on his elbow after meeting with team physician Dr. Chris Ahmad this week, Boone said.
The right-handed reliever suffered a UCL sprain during spring training, but was building back up in Tampa before he experienced a setback last week and did not recover well from a live batting-practice session.
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The UCL is the ligament involved with Tommy John surgery, if it is torn, but Boone said he did not have “anything definitive” on Trivino’s situation.
The news was also less than ideal for fellow righty reliever Jonathan Loaisiga (elbow inflammation), who came in feeling sore on Thursday after continuing his throwing program on Wednesday. Loaisiga did not throw on Thursday as the Yankees tried to figure out what was going on.
Boone said he did not know if any tests were scheduled or if it was just normal soreness.
“I just know he threw [Wednesday], everything went well,” Boone said. “He came in today and he was pretty sore. So we gotta see what we got going.”
Earlier this week, Boone said he was hopeful that Loaisiga could throw off the mound by the end of this weekend, but that no longer appears to be an option.
Harrison Bader (strained oblique) got another day off in his rehab assignment Thursday after playing back-to-back games on Tuesday and Wednesday with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He played 5 ¹/₂ innings on Tuesday and 7 ¹/₂ on Wednesday.
The center fielder is 2-for-12 with two walks and a stolen base through four rehab games.
He is expected to need around another week’s worth of games, making the Yankees’ road series with the Rays on May 5-7 a potential target for his return.
“It’s more just reps and getting built up,” Boone said. “He had a little bit of the start of spring training, but he’s gotta get some at-bats, one, but also build that physical stamina, be able to go nine innings back-to-back.”
