One hundred miles per hour. It used to mean something. On Tuesday night in Cleveland, Gerrit Cole threw a fastball that crossed that magical threshold for the first time since late September of 2022. It was a single pitch. A blip on the radar gun. But for a 35-year-old ace working his way back from the knife, every decimal point is scrutinized.
His velocity was up. Way up. The slider touched 92.4, the changeup reached 88.6, and his heater sat comfortably in the high nineties. Yet, the results were messy. Cole is no longer the freak of nature who led the majors in triple-digit heat as a rookie back in 2013. Today, everyone throws hard. He is just the 19th starter to hit 100 mph this year. The magic is gone; now it’s just labor.
He lasted four innings. That is it. Eighty-three pitches of pure sweat and survival on a muggy, 86-degree night. He looked gassed. Manager Aaron Boone called it a grind, which is baseball speak for “he didn’t have it.” A laborious 29-pitch third inning erased a lead handed to him by rookie Spencer Jones, who launched a 443-foot monster for his first big-league home run.
Cole blamed the heat. He claimed his heart rate was pushing 185. It felt like survival mode, he admitted later. When a highly paid pitcher is fighting for his life in the fourth inning, you don’t look at the radar gun and smile. You worry.
But the Yankees survived. Again. They scraped together a 3-2 win, their second straight nail-biter against the Guardians. Jazz Chisholm Jr. provided the late-game heroics with an eighth-inning solo shot. Then the bullpen took over. Five relievers combined to slam the door, capped by a gritty five-out save from Fernando Cruz.
With Aaron Judge watching from the sidelines, the Yankees have to win ugly. They did. Cole got away with a mediocre start because the guys behind him picked up the slack. Next up is Carlos Rodón trying to complete the sweep against Cleveland rookie Parker Messick. Cole will take the win, but the road back to dominance remains long and steep.
