The Yankees have danced around the likelihood that Gerrit Cole and Kyle Higashioka will remain paired for the foreseeable future, but after another solid effort together, the results seem to make that statement for them.
Cole retired the last 15 batters he faced and Higashioka supported his ace with a two-homer outing, and the Yankees defeated the Blue Jays 3-1 on Monday-evening at TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Fla.
Gary Sánchez was behind the plate for Cole’s opening day start, also against Toronto, but the righthanded’s last two games came with Higashioka behind the saucer.
Just like last year, when Higashioka caught Cole’s last four regular season starts and three more in the post season, the tandem just clicked. After giving up a run in the first inning, Cole settled and didn’t allow a runner on Rowdy Tellez’s single in the second.
Cole walked one batter and struckout eight batters in the 98-pitch attempt. With 29 strikeouts to date this season, he was equal to David Cone (1997) for the most strikeouts recorded by a Yankees-pitcher in his first three starts of a season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
The Yanks were held hitless by Toronto-starter Robbie Ray until the fifth inning, when Rougned Odor logged an one-out single and Higashioka followed with a 120 yards blast to right midfield that came off his bat at 104.7 mph. Higashioka added a long ball in the eighth off of Ryan Borucki.