Gerrit Cole keeps rolling as Yankees survive White Sox scare

Gerrit Cole has looked like the ace the Yankees are paying him to be for about a month now, and Monday night at Rate Field was more of the same. Six shutout innings, four hits allowed, another quality start in the books. The version of Cole that showed up down the stretch of July is a far cry from the guy who was scuffling earlier in the season, and his teammates in the press box noticed.

Eric Hubbs

@BarstoolHubbs

Gerrit Cole continues to look fantastic of late.

It wasn't just eye-test stuff, either. Cole was efficient and in control basically the whole way, working around contact and letting a defense that got a little sloppy behind him bail him out more than once. At one point his own infielders nearly ran into each other chasing a popup near the mound, forcing Cole to just watch the chaos unfold.

Barstool Baseball

@StoolBaseball

Gerrit Cole will catch his own pop ups

Offensively, Anthony Volpe did the early damage with an RBI double, part of a Yankees attack that's been clicking behind Cole all month. Jasson Dominguez kept flashing the kind of bat-to-ball skill that's made him a fun watch lately, going the other way with pitches instead of trying to pull everything, a small but real sign of growth for a guy still figuring out how to hit at this level.

None of it was stress-free. Cole's outing ended with the Yankees up comfortably, but the bullpen let Chicago claw back into it before New York finally shut the door. The final was 3-2, with closer David Bednar surviving a two-out, two-run homer in the ninth before striking out the potential tying run to lock it down. Not exactly stylish, but a win's a win, and it was Cole's fourth straight quality start.

whitesoxdave

@barstoolWSD

Cole was ass that half inning and couldn’t scratch one. I HATE this series

The bigger picture is what matters here. New York improved to 61-46 and pulled within a game and a half of the division-leading Rays, who lost Monday night, making it about as good a 24 hours as the Yankees could've asked for. With Cole rolling alongside a rotation that's suddenly got real depth, the Bombers are starting to feel like a team nobody wants to see in October.

Eric Hubbs

@BarstoolHubbs

Schlittler-Fried-Cole. Can’t say it enough. If you have these three pitching at a high level you can beat anyone IMPROVE THIS TEAM BRIAN

Cole capping off a strong July is exactly the kind of trend the Yankees needed heading into the trade deadline. If he keeps pitching like this and the offense keeps finding ways to scratch out runs even in ugly, bullpen-stress innings, this team is going to be a real problem for whoever they end up facing in the AL bracket.