Gerrit Cole is one of the pitchers baseball fans will be watching now that MLB has begun cracking down on foreign substance use, and the New York Yankees ace raised a big red flag with his start on Sunday.
Cole was absolutely rocked in the first inning of his outing against the Boston Red Sox. He allowed four earned runs on four hits, two of which were home runs. Rafael Devers hit the second one — a 451-foot moonshot.
A 451-foot Raffy rocket. pic.twitter.com/MXXMhqTAzW
— MLB (@MLB) June 27, 2021
That was the first time in Cole’s career that he has allowed multiple home runs in the first inning. Devers’ home run traveled at a speed of 113.7 mph, which made it the second-hardest hit ball off Cole since 2015, according to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs.
Naturally, Twitter exploded with speculation that Cole has lost effectiveness now that he cannot use Spider Tack or any other foreign substance to doctor the baseball. Scott White of CBS Sports noted that Cole’s spin rates were down a bit, though the numbers were hardly eye-popping.
Gerrit Cole got crushed in that first inning, but his spin rates aren't down as much as in some of his previous starts. pic.twitter.com/lFGCZ8fOfj
— Scott White (@CBSScottWhite) June 27, 2021
Despite being shelled, Cole was still checked for illegal substances after the inning.
Gerrit Cole gives up four runs in the first inning, and gets the substance check pic.twitter.com/ledh7dNbcR
— MLB Foreign Substance Checks (@StickyCheck) June 27, 2021
Cole had a clean 1-2-3 second inning but then allowed another home run to JD Martinez to lead off the third inning.
Cole basically admitted to using foreign substances earlier this month when he danced around a question about the topic. His decrease is spin rate is nothing close to what we saw with Red Sox pitcher Garrett Richards, but any poor outing from Cole will is going to be scrutinized now given his history.
