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OAKLAND, Calif. — The last time Gerrit Cole took the mound before Friday, he was unhittable early and then issued the Intentional Walk Heard ’Round the World, which sent his outing into a tailspin.
After having to wait five long days to pitch again, with plenty of second-guessing in between, Cole finally got a chance for redemption — as much as it can be gained facing one of the worst teams in the league.
The result was his best start of the season, pitching into the seventh inning for the first time this season — then the eighth and ninth, too.
And only after Cole completed nine innings did his offense finally wake up — with some heroics from Juan Soto — to reward him with the win.
Soto, who was scratched roughly two hours before first pitch with a sore left knee, played a key part in the Yankees’ three-run rally in the top of the 10th inning that lifted them to a 4-2 win over the A’s in front of an announced crowd of 23,426 at the Coliseum.
After Cole threw his 99th and final pitch of the night to finish off a two-hit gem across nine innings, the game was still tied 1-1.
But the Yankees (90-64) quickly went ahead in the top of the 10th. Anthony Rizzo led off with a single that advanced automatic runner Jasson Dominguez to third, setting him up to score the go-ahead run on a passed ball.
That came during an at-bat by Soto, who pinch-hit for Trent Grisham after starting the night on the bench because of swelling and soreness in his left knee from slamming it against the right-field wall making a catch Thursday in Seattle.
But Soto delivered by slicing an RBI double to left field for the 3-1 lead, at which point he was replaced by a pinch-runner.
Anthony Volpe added an RBI single — his third hit and second RBI of the night — to make it 4-1 and give Luke Weaver some more breathing room as he closed it out in the bottom of the 10th.
The A’s (67-87) scored the automatic runner with a single off Weaver, but he struck out the next three batters for his third save of the season.
With the Orioles winning earlier Friday, the Yankees’ AL East lead remained at four games with eight to play.
The Orioles’ win also meant that the Yankees will not be able to clinch the division on this road trip, with their magic number to do so now sitting at five.
While locking up the division remains the biggest priority over the final week-plus of the season, making sure Cole is back on track and pitching like himself entering October is also vital to the Yankees’ playoff hopes.
Cole had been pitching well of late until last Saturday, when an intentional walk to his nemesis, Rafael Devers (with one out and nobody on in the fourth inning of a game the Yankees led 1-0), gave way to a clunker.
Before Friday, Cole had made 15 starts this season, none of which lasted past the sixth inning.
But he was incredibly efficient against the A’s, tossing a six-pitch first inning that was a harbinger of things to come, allowing him to go deep.
Former Mets prospect J.T. Ginn (Chris Bassitt trade) was tough on the Yankees across five innings of one-run ball.
The right-hander allowed only four singles and one walk while striking out four and getting two key double plays.
Cole retired the first nine batters he faced on just 33 pitches before Lawrence Butler led off the bottom of the fourth with a single past Rizzo.
Butler then stole second, setting him up to score on Shea Langeliers’ two-out, two-strike single through the left side for the 1-0 lead.
But the Yankees came right back to tie the game in the top of the fifth inning, staging a rally with two outs. Rizzo drew a full-count walk and then advanced to third on a single the other way from Grisham — a late addition to the lineup in place of Soto.
Volpe then delivered his second hit of the night, going the other way for a single that scored Rizzo and tied the game 1-1.
