I do not take much enjoyment in backing the Yankees, or Gerrit Cole for that matter but we gotta do what we gotta do in this matchup!
Cole got off to a rough start this season this year as he was not able to get through the 6th inning and had a 6.35 ERA after 3 starts. That feels like forever ago now that Cole has resorted back to his typical dominance in his last 4 starts. His ERA now sits at 2.95 after only allowing 4 earned runs in his last 25.1 innings. In that span he has faced 4 of the league's toughest teams to strikeout, but it did not matter as he racked up 9, 6, 10, and 9 strikeouts in those games. He is in the 85th percentile in K%, 93rd percentile in whiff%, and has terrific spin rates and velocity on several of his pitches. On the season, Gerrit is averaging 1.24 K per inning, with a slight uptick to 1.29 on the road. Last year's numbers were even more impressive as he averaged 1.35 K per inning on the road. He faced Baltimore 2 times last year striking out 20 O’s in 12 innings. Current Orioles batters have 84 plate appearances against Gerrit, striking out 27 times (32.1%). Baltimore is 4th in the league in strikeouts per game at 9.16, and have 36 strikeouts over their last 3 games combined. While lineups are not out for this one yet, the O’s lineup will feature many terrific targets for Gerrit to take advantage of.
