Gerrit Cole Back in Top Form. NY 7 KC 0

May 28, 2026 paperbacklou 2026 0
Gerrit Cole pitched a 4-hit shutout into the 7th, striking out 10 with 0 walks.

Gerrit Cole pitched a 4-hit shutout into the 7th inning, striking out 10 with no walks — and Paul Goldschmidt, Ben Rice and Ryan McMahon provided much of the offense for a 7-0 Yankee win over the Royals on a Wednesday night in Kansas City.

The shutout was also courtesy Aaron Judge — who threw a runner out at the plate to end the 3rd with a magnificent throw from right.

Ben Rice tripled in Paul Goldschmidt in the 4th to give NY a 1-0 lead, then scored on a sac fly by Judge for a 2-0 game.

It stayed a tight, 2-0 game until the 7th — with Noah Cameron of the Royals pitching 5 strong innings.

The Yanks loaded the bases with nobody out in the 7th, but 2 quick outs followed and it looked like NY might blow the opportunity. But Paul Goldschmidt worked a walk to drive in a run, and Rice ripped a 2-RBI single to make it a 5-0 game. Ryan McMahon put the game away with a 2-run HR in the top of the 8th.

The main story however, was Cole — who looked as good as ever with a ripping, effortless 98-MPH fastball and dominant off-speed stuff including his vaunted knuckle curve.

“He was dominant,” said manager Aaron Boone about Cole. “He had everything going. It was fun to watch that. Maybe the 1st game was the appetizer, and that was the main course right there. That was surgical. Command. You saw everything too — good fastball; both breaking balls going; mixed in the cutter a little bit; mixed in some really good changeups along the way. There were some good defensive plays behind him early, and he cruised from there. It just reminds you who he is, and how great and consistent a pitcher he’s been.”

NY improves to 34-22 and pull to 1.5 games back of Tampa, which lost again to Baltimore. NY has picked up 4 games in 4 days against Tampa. KC falls to 22-34.

1. Cole Fantastic

Cole blew through the Royals lineup from the start, pitching a 1-2-3 inning in the 1st, striking out the last 2 batters, and doing the same exact thing in the 2nd.

Cole struck out the 1st batter of the 3rd, when Michael Massey clipped him for a double to right. Cole struck out Isaac Collins for the 2nd out but Maikel Garcia singled to right for what looked like a run. But Aaron Judge threw a perfect strike to home and nailed Massey for the 3rd out of the inning.

“It was a sneaky great play,” said Boone. “He’s coming in initially thinking maybe I’ve got a chance to dive and make a play here and he’s got to pull up last second and it’s not an easy hop to deal with. What he does so well out there is he slows it down. Like I’ve always said he moves quickly but not in a hurry. To take a tricky hop and gather himself and execute a perfect throw — that’s a really good play right there.”

Cole then cruised from there, pitching a 1-2-3 inning in the 4th and 5th, allowing a 2-out double in the 6th but getting Bobby Witt Jr. to fly out to end the inning and send the game to the 7th with a 2-0 lead.

Staked to a 5-o lead by the bottom of the 7th, Cole allowed a 1-out single to Salvador Perez but got a popout and was relieved by Fernando Cruz, who got Lane Thomas to line out to Judge to end the inning. NY 5 KC 0.

2. Rice Triple Gets Yanks 2-0 Lead in 4th

Meanwhile Noah Cameron, the 26-year-old, 6’3 lefty, was throwing a great game too. Cameron was the leading vote getter amongst pitchers for Rookie of the Year last year — going 9-7 2.99, besting Will Warren who finished 3rd amongst pitchers in ROY votes. (Nick Kurtz won the award, with Jacob Wilson 2nd, Roman Anthony 3rd, and Cameron 4th overall. Jack Leiter was 7th and Warren 8th.)

Cameron was throwing a shutout into the 4th — getting ground out after ground out with an assortment of cutters, changeups, curves, sliders, and a 93-MPH fastball — when Paul Goldschmidt — who feasts off lefty’s — singled to lead off the inning.

Next batter Ben Rice tripled to left for a 1-0 Yankee lead.

Aaron Judge then hit a sac fly to right to make it 2-0 Yanks.

3. Rice 2-RBI Single Makes It 5-0 NY in 7th

Cameron pitched into the 6th — when he allowed a leadoff single to Goldschmidt and walked Ben Rice — and was relieved by righty reliever John Schreiber, who got Judge to hit into a doubleplay and got Cody Bellinger to fly out to end the inning.

Yanks Load Bases with Nobody Out — then Almost Squander Opportunity

So it was a tenuous 2-0 game to the 7th, when Trent Grisham led off against 6’3 righty reliever Nick Mears with a single to left.

Anthony Volpe worked a walk, and Ryan McMahon singled to center to load the bases with nobody out.

But Mears got tough — getting Jose Caballero to hit a soft liner to shallow left, and striking out Austin Wells.

The Yanks looked like they might blow the bases-loaded, nobody out opportunity — when Paul Goldschmidt worked a walk to force in a run for a 3-0 Yankee lead.

Next batter Ben Rice singled to right for 2 runs and 5-0 lead.

4. McMahon 2-Run HR Puts Game Away in 8th

Ryan McMahon put the game away in the top of the 8th with a 2-out, 2-run, 369-foot HR to opposite-field left off righty reliever Mason Black — scoring Grisham (who had walked). NY 7 KC 0.

5. Cruz and Doval Complete the Shutout

After getting the last out of the 7th, Fernando Cruz stayed on and pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 8th.

And Camilo Doval pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 9th to complete the shutout — getting 3 straight groundouts for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401815523

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