DETROIT — There was legitimate concern when Gerrit Cole was removed from the starting lineup on trade deadline day for what the Yankees called “general fatigue.”
Whatever moves the club made that day, nothing would have come close to the impact a healthy Cole could have late in the season and into October.
After three starts, the right-hander seems very close to returning to his normal form.
Cole pitched his first shutout game of the season to lead the Yankees to a 3-0 victory over the Tigers on Friday night at Comerica Park.
Opposing lineups wouldn’t immediately be mistaken for killer lineups, but Cole held the Tigers (59-64) to a halt anyway, striking out eight and allowing just six baserunners.
He missed the first two and a half months with elbow neuritis, but this was just the third time this season (10 starts) he has pitched six complete innings.
In his three starts since missing the Phillies game, Cole has a 1.59 ERA and 22 strikeouts in 17 innings.
On Friday, he led the Yankees (73-50) to their third straight win.
Cole struck out 10 and gave up one run in 5 1/3 innings the last time he pitched, but he was still feeling the effects of missing a start after just 90 pitches, what Aaron Boone called a “pretty tough” outing.
But Cole threw 95 pitches on Friday, his last being a 96 mph strikeout for Jace Jung with two runners on base in the sixth inning, at which point he turned the ball over to the bullpen.
The rest of the game was pitched by Luke Weaver, Tommy Kahnle and Clay Holmes, who each pitched scoreless innings to secure the win.
Things looked dicey for the Yankees in the seventh inning after Weaver got his first two batters out. Former Yankees prospect Trey Sweeney (who was traded to the Dodgers last winter for Victor Gonzalez and Jorbit Vivas and then acquired by the Tigers last month in a trade for Jack Flaherty) extended the inning with an infield single, his first hit in his MLB debut.
Weaver then got Jake Rogers on a pop fly down the third base line, but Anthony Volpe dropped the ball.
But Weaver got the leadoff hitter, Parker Meadows, out to second base, protecting the shortstop and saving the day.
After taking a 1–0 lead in the first inning, the Yankees powered their offense the rest of the way with two solo home runs: Oswaldo Peraza hit his first of the season in the fifth inning, and Aaron Judge hit his 301st career homer and 44th of the season in the eighth inning.
