Saturday’s pitching duel between the Yankees’ Gerrit Cole and the Blue Jays’ Alek Manoah lived up to the hype.
But after both starters departed, Anthony Volpe and DJ LeMahieu stole the spotlight.
Volpe, a 21-year-old rookie, scored the first runs of the game in the eighth inning when he took a Yimi Garcia fastball the other way and over the right field fence at Yankee Stadium. The two-run home run, the second of Volpe’s young career, gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead after Manoah spent most of the afternoon shoving.
A curtain call soon followed, though Aaron Boone and bench coach Carlos Mendoza had to prod the reluctant shortstop, who ultimately clapped at the crowd instead of offering a traditional wave or tip of the helmet.
“It was pretty crazy. I didn’t really know what was going on, I guess, and I didn’t want to assume to go out or anything like that,” Volpe said with a smile. “I didn’t even know where to go.”
Boone said the moment gave him “goosebumps,” but the Blue Jays answered right back in the ninth when pinch-hitter Danny Jansen hit his own two-run shot. Just like that, a game that had previously been starved of scoring was tied again.
The Yankees prevented extra innings, however, with a ninth-inning rally. DJ LeMahieu capped the game with a pinch-hit, walk-off single. The knock sealed the deal on a 3-2 win for the Bombers.
“The last few innings, I was kind of ready at any moment,” LeMahieu said. “I’m really not used to [pinch-hitting] too much.”
Added Boone: “Turned into a really good off day for him.”
The last two innings of the game offered a stark contrast from the earlier frames, as Cole and Manoah spent most of the day stifling the opposition despite a few hiccups from both righties.
Manoah, who’s had some poor starts this season, had the more efficient outing, as he went seven scoreless innings while holding the Yankees to two hits. He walked one, struck out five and threw 85 pitches.
“He was ahead a lot,” Boone said. “Coming in, he walked a lot of guys in his first several starts. That wasn’t an issue today. He was filling up the zone. He did a good job of mixing. We saw a lot of changeups, even with some of our lefties. He was unpredictable.”
Cole, in his shortest and perhaps least impressive start of the season, still lowered his ERA to a minuscule 0.79 while blanking the Blue Jays for 5.2 innings. He allowed four hits and two walks and struck out four over 96 pitches. Toronto had eight hard-hit balls off him, but nothing to show for it by the time the pitcher exited.
Boone said Cole felt “a little gassed” by the end.
“Tough, tough!” Cole said of opposing Manoah before praising Toronto’s lineup. “And those guys, man, they fought. Man, they’re tough. They just grind, they don’t give a pitch up. They’re shifty. And obviously Alek was on his game today. He threw tremendous.”
Manoah has not spoken highly of Cole in the past, as he called the Yankee the biggest cheater in baseball history over the offseason, a nod to Major League Baseball’s crackdown on sticky substances. Manoah declined to walk those comments back on Friday, per Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith. Last August, Manoah also challenged Cole after an Aaron Judge hit-by-pitch riled up both teams. “If Gerrit wants to do something, he can walk past the Audi sign next time,” Manoah said, referring to grassy signage just in front of the dugouts at Yankee Stadium.
Asked if Manoah’s past comments fueled him Saturday, Cole quickly said, “I get all my motivation from inside this clubhouse.”
Manoah also took his time walking from the Jays’ bullpen to their dugout Saturday as Cole prepared to throw the first pitch of the game. When asked about that, Cole rapidly responded, “Didn’t notice.” He didn’t appear to need any explanation, though.
Cole was much more interested in talking about Volpe than the rival pitcher. He called the neophyte a “stud” and a “winning player” before describing what he meant by that.
“He’s a great complement to the clubhouse,” Cole continued. “He’s a great defensive player and obviously put a great swing on a good pitch today and gave us a jolt that we needed.
“The first person that told me that he was a winning player, before I even got to play with him, was Damon Oppenheimer, our scouting director. He just said you’re really gonna like this kid this spring. He’s won at every amateur level and every professional level. His teams always seem to be good and always seem to be competitive. That’s just a testament to the type of standard that he sets.”
After the game, Volpe, a childhood Yankees fan, was still in disbelief at his home run and the moment he shared with the Bronx crowd. He has been living his wildest dreams these last few weeks, but he hasn’t had much time to stop and think about that.
“I probably don’t as much as I probably should,” he said. “But when I call home or talk to family or friends, and they kind of just say what’s happened and stuff like that, sometimes it hits me.
“But I don’t think everything really has all set in yet.”
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