The Yankees started arguably their most difficult stretch yet of the season on Tuesday, with nine straight games against the Rays and Blue Jays.
They couldn’t have asked for a much better opener, as Gerrit Cole rebounded from one of the worst starts of his career with a gem and the Yankees took advantage of some mistakes by Tampa Bay in a 2-0 victory in The Bronx.
It was the Yankees’ fifth straight win and 11th in their last 12 games, as they improved their MLB-best record to 45-16.
Thanks to Toronto’s loss to the Orioles, the Yankees are now a season-high nine games up in the AL East, with the third-place Rays 10 games behind.
“There’s gonna be a lot of tough baseball,’’ Cole said. “But we’re up for the challenge. Believe me, we’re fighting for a huge offensive night, but we feel confident in tight games too — especially now. Whatever it takes.”
Cole tossed six scoreless innings in his first outing since getting blasted for seven runs — and five homers — in just 2 ¹/₃ innings Thursday in Minnesota.
Unlike in that start, when Cole allowed home runs to the first three batters he faced, the right-hander didn’t allow a runner to get into scoring position until the fifth inning.
The Yankees broke through against Corey Kluber, thanks to some help from Tampa Bay, in the fourth.
After Giancarlo Stanton drew a one-out walk, Gleyber Torres hit a routine fly ball down the right-field line, but Manuel Margot dropped it, allowing Torres to reach and Stanton to get to second.
With one out, Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled to left, and Randy Arozarena appeared to have a shot at Stanton at the plate, but Arozarena’s throw went to the backstop and Stanton scored.
Kluber was slow backing up the play, which allowed a heads-up Torres to race home with the second run, with both runs unearned.
The Rays threatened in the top of the fifth on an Arozarena leadoff single followed by a four-pitch walk to Kevin Kiermaier. After Cole got Isaac Paredes to fly to left, he got ahead of Francisco Mejia 1-2 before a meeting on the mound with Jose Trevino, DJ LeMahieu and Kiner-Falefa. Cole responded by getting Mejia looking on a 100 mph fastball. Taylor Walls grounded out to end the inning.
Yandy Diaz singled to start the sixth and Harold Ramirez followed with a comebacker. Cole threw wildly to second, but Torres made an excellent play to somehow keep part of his foot on the base for the force.
Margot followed with a bloop hit to center to bring up Ji-Man Choi, who has hit Cole hard throughout his career, but struck out in two earlier at-bats Tuesday. Choi reached on an infield single to load the bases for Arozarena.
Cole, however, got Arozarena to ground into an inning-ending double play to preserve the two-run lead.
“He did what he’s supposed to do,’’ Trevino said of Cole. “Go out there and make pitches. That’s the good thing about Gerrit. He’s gonna come at you.”
Wandy Peralta replaced Cole to start the seventh and was immediately aided by Kiner-Falefa’s defense on a Kiermaier chopper deflected by Peralta. Kiner-Falefa made a terrific barehanded play to get Kiermaier.
Michael King got the final out in the seventh and pitched a scoreless eighth to extend his hitless streak to five games and Clay Holmes tossed a scoreless ninth for his 10th save.
The victory came despite the fact the Yankees didn’t score an earned run and went just 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position, as they found yet another way to win a game.
As for the widening lead in the division, the Yankees have bigger things in mind.
“It’s still early,” Kiner-Falefa said. “We’ve got a long way to go. … The end goal is to get the big one. We’re not really worried about other teams, as long as we play [well] and are in first place. This team is unbelievable.”
