Gerrit Cole Fired a Pitch Well Over Mariners Batter’s Head During Heated At-Bat
Gerrit Cole took matters into his own hands Tuesday night when he deemed that the opposing batter wasn’t being too respectful while at the plate. No, he was not subtle about it.
In the top of the seventh inning, the Yankees starter was facing off against the Mariners’ José Caballero and Cole didn’t like what he was seeing. After hitting a foul ball, Caballero flipped his bat and caught it then proceeded to take his time getting back into the batter’s box after a timeout.
Cole decided to send a message and hurled his fastest pitch of the night. Only he sent it completely over Caballero’s head and past home plate.
Cole went on to strike Caballero out and didn’t do so quietly. He appeared to stare him down and wagged his finger toward the Seattle dugout. After the 3–1 win, Cole addressed the incident and said “sometimes the high fast ball can be a really effective pitch.”
He also said that Mariners manager Scott Servais had some “choice words” for him after the strikeout to end the inning and was wagging his finger at him, prompting Cole to do the same. Finally, the five-time All Star acknowledged what Caballero was doing at the plate.
“It seems like that’s his game,” Cole said. “I just work with it.”
