New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole had it going big time in the Bronx to open the regular season Thursday afternoon against the San Francisco Giants.
With the Giants partaking in their first Opening Day in the Big Apple in six decades, they stood absolutely no chance against the five-time All-Star pitcher.
From the get, Cole proved to be too overpowering for a lineup that lacks consistency from one-to-nine. Cole’s slider was absolutely brilliant with his fastball hitting the upper 90s. It really was a sight to behold.
When all was said and done Thursday afternoon, Gerrit Cole had struck out 11 Giants batters while allowing zero runs and just three hits in six inning of work. He exited with a 3-0 lead after six shutout innings.
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Gerrit Cole makes New York Yankees history on Opening Day
Those 11 strikeouts represented a Yankees Opening Day record. That included striking out the side in each of the first two frames. He’s the first player with six strikouts in the first two innings of his team’s season opener since at least 1957.
Equally as astonishing, Cole is only the sixth MLB pitcher since 1901 to record 11 strikeouts while yielding three hits of fewer and zero runs in an opener.
He joins the likes of Hall of Famers Pedro Martinez (twice) and Walter Johnson as well as Curt Schilling, Lon Warneke and Felix Hernandez in this elite company.
Talk about doing work in the opener.