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BOSTON — Gerrit Cole’s season is on the verge of ending with a Cy Young award, but before he gets there, he will return to the mound where his career began.
The Yankees ace will start Friday’s game against the Pirates in Pittsburgh, his first time pitching at PNC Park since the Pirates traded him following the 2017 season.
Cole pitched against the Pirates in Houston in 2019, then returned to Pittsburgh with the Yankees last season but did not pitch in the series.
But the stars finally aligned this time around for Cole to add a sentimental chapter to his personally memorable season.
“I’m thrilled,” Cole said this week at Fenway Park. “I’m just excited. I haven’t been on that mound in [six] years. It’s where I started it all, so it’s going to be cool.”
The last time Cole pitched in Pittsburgh was Sept. 23, 2017, his 64th career start there as a 27-year-old, one-time All-Star.
Before his 65th start there on Friday, he made five more All-Star teams, surpassed 2,000 career strikeouts, twice finished second in the Cy Young voting and now can bolster his case for his first career Cy Young this season — all of which has put him on a potential Hall of Fame track.
“I have the same core,” Cole said. “I should be more refined.”
Cole will take the mound in Pittsburgh with a 2.79 ERA and 204 strikeouts across 187 innings and 30 starts this season.
In a season that has been marred by inconsistency and disappointment for the Yankees, Cole has been one of their few bright spots when he takes the ball every five days.
Most of the faces in the Pirates dugout have changed since Cole, their first-overall draft pick in 2011, last pitched for them. It’s a new coaching staff and almost entirely new roster, with Andrew McCutchen being the only Pirate left who Cole once called a teammate.
But Cole will not get to face the former MVP after McCutchen recently suffered a partial tear of his Achilles, ending his season early.
“That would have been special,” Cole said.
Still, Cole rattled off a long list of behind-the-scenes staffers that he was looking forward to seeing again, everyone from clubhouse managers, public relations officials and video coordinators to broadcasters and the Pirates’ team chef.
Adding to the significance of Friday’s start for Cole is that it falls on Roberto Clemente Day.
“That is sick,” Cole said when he found out about it. “Wow, what a day. I didn’t think I could get more excited for it.”
During his time with the Pirates — he debuted in 2013 — Cole gained an appreciation for Clemente’s legacy.
He was a frequent visitor to the Clemente Museum and, along with former Pirate Jameson Taillon, organized a private visit there for his teammates when the Yankees played in Pittsburgh last season.
“We just had a great tradition, like older great players that were around and involved,” Cole said. “They all loved [Clemente] and they all made it a point to talk about him. The Clemente Museum is unbelievable. [Curator] Duane [Rieder] does a fantastic job there.
“Just a real monumental player. To have a little bit of a strong connection to his legacy because I played for them and because I knew so many people that knew him, that’s why it has a little more significance to me.”
But Cole does not want to let the nostalgia get in the way of putting the finishing touches on one of the best seasons of his career. He said he tried to not look at the schedule to see whether he lined up to pitch in Pittsburgh until after he threw seven shutout innings against the Brewers on Sunday. Because the Yankees played there last year, he will also have less people to say hello to for the first time in a long time.
“I feel like he’s so well-prepared on all fronts that it’s hard to tell apart when he is a little more sentimental,” pitching coach Matt Blake said. “I know he values his time in Pittsburgh tremendously … so I think it’ll have a little bit more meaning to it when we get there and he kind of soaks it in.”
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