Gerrit Cole’s spectacular shutout sends Yankees past Astros

Gerrit Cole chewed out his manager and made him sulk back to the third-base dugout. This was his game no matter the pitch count or situation. The fire is so familiar to the sellout crowd that gathered here. Cole transformed from middling starter to marquee ace at Minute Maid Park, shoving against any opponent before him.

His return offered a performance superior to all others, a game for the ages even if it is only July. Cole controlled his former club in every conceivable way. He threw 129 pitches in a 1-0 shutout — his first complete game since striking out 16 Diamondbacks on May 4, 2018.

Cole struck out 12, offering the sort of performance he made an old habit during two seasons in Houston. He struck out the final two men he faced on six pitches. Yankees manager Aaron Boone tried to remove him after the first one. Cole yelled at the skipper and forced him back to the dugout. Two of his final three pitches registered 99.4 and 99.1 mph.

The Astros did not put a runner past second base while Cole worked. They collected three hits and worked two walks. The leadoff man reached thrice in nine innings. Jose Altuve lined his first pitch of the ninth inning for a single. He did not advance a base. Neither did the two leadoff runners before him.

The outing started to shift a sticky narrative surrounding him. Cole had a 5.24 ERA in six starts since the sport cracked down on foreign substances. His spin rates still plummeted on all three primary pitches on Saturday. It did not matter. Baseball’s best offense could not touch him.

Houston has scored one run in its past 28 innings. No shame exists in losing to Cole, but the bats have also been deadened by Frankie Montas and Nestor Cortes during this dismal stretch. Carlos Correa and Alex Bregman are absent, but enough firepower still exists to remain elite.

Cole retired the first nine Astros he saw on only 34 pitches. Walks to Altuve and Michael Brantley broke his rhythm to begin the fourth. Cole ran 99.1 mph past Yuli Gurriel for a strikeout. Yordan Alvarez grounded into a double play to prevent any further damage.

Cole carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning. Abraham Toro flared a four-seam fastball into shallow center field to stop it. His one-out single could only sustain momentum for so long. Myles Straw worked a nine-pitch at-bat but still struck out. Toro stole second base during strike three. Martín Maldonado’s groundout stranded him there, leaving Houston’s pitching staff with little margin for error.

Starter Zack Greinke awoke on Saturday atop the American League with 111 ⅓ innings pitched. He added only four frames against the Yankees. Greinke threw only 65 pitches before manager Dusty Baker pulled him from the game. He had thrown at least 89 in the four starts preceding it.

Cristian Javier struck out five across three terrific innings after Greinke. Ryne Stanek and Ryan Pressly handled the final two frames. The four men limited the Yankees to six hits.

Greinke did not have anything near his best arsenal. He harnessed no command and dodged constant danger. The Yankees had four baserunners in the four frames he worked. Dazzling defensive plays by Robel Garcia and Altuve prevented two others. Greinke generated only four swings and misses. Just 34 of his 65 pitches were strikes.

Greinke got to a three-ball count against five of the first 12 hitters he faced. Giancarlo Stanton worked a five-pitch walk to start the second. Greinke needed 20 pitches to conclude it, stranding Stanton and Gio Urshela aboard.

Altuve saved Greinke from more misery to begin the third. Nine-hole hitter Tim Locastro sent a two-strike fastball back up the middle. The second baseman ranged into shallow center field, backhanded the baseball and fired a throw across his body. It beat Locastro by a step. The sellout crowd roared in approval. DJ LeMahieu struck out to grow the noise. Judge arrived as it reached its apex.

Houston fans are jeering Judge to exact some form of revenge. Yankee Stadium patrons showered Altuve with invective across three games in May.

Judge has been one of the Astros’ most vocal critics. He finished as runner-up to Altuve in American League Most Valuable Player voting in 2017, a season in which the Astros electronically stole signs. Judge deleted a four-year-old social media post congratulating Altuve. He does not hide disdain for the Astros’ misdeeds. Houston fans do not appreciate his candor. They booed Judge every time he appeared anywhere on the field.

Greinke fell behind him 2-1, a constant problem in his plodding night. Two four-seam fastballs missed the strike zone. He sandwiched a slider between them for a called strike to salvage the count. Greinke chose a changeup to even it. It had no movement.

Judge clobbered it toward the train tracks in left field. It traveled 419 feet. Greinke did not bother to watch. The crowd focused its rage upon Judge. He rounded second base and faced New York’s third-base dugout.

When he did, Judge brought both hands to his jersey and pulled both sides together. Altuve did something similar after winning the 2019 American League Championship Series with a walkoff home run. The behavior fueled false rumors that Altuve wore some sort of buzzer under the shirt he told teammates not to tear off.

Major League Baseball investigated the claim and found nothing. It has not stopped a deluge of speculation. Judge rekindled it Saturday, another reminder of the past on an evening full of it.