Gerrit Cole makes huge defensive blunder during Game 5

The New York Yankees’ defense fell apart in the top of the 5th inning of Game 5 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, N.Y., and Gerrit Cole played a role in the meltdown.

The Yankees’ defense committed three mistakes (two official errors) to give the Los Angeles Dodgers multiple chances in the inning, and the NL team took advantage. The Dodgers scored five runs in the inning to tie the game.

First, Aaron Judge dropped a ball in center field. Then Anthony Volpe made a throwing error on a force play at third base. Despite all that, Cole had gotten consecutive strikeouts with the bases loaded. His Yankees were still leading 5-0 with two outs and looking like they had escaped the jam.

Cole got Mookie Betts to ground a ball to first base. Anthony Rizzo fielded the ball and was looking to toss it to Cole for the out, but the pitcher had stopped running.

The @Dodgers get on the board in Game 5. #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/Mif4HgFsoO

— MLB (@MLB) October 31, 2024

That’s all on Cole. He just stopped and assumed Rizzo would take it to the bag unassisted, but that wasn’t the case.

After that mistake, the Dodgers got consecutive big hits off Cole and tied the game at five.

The Yankees’ defense fell apart that inning, but Cole certainly did himself no favors with his mental error.