MILWAUKEE — Even before Gerrit Cole went down with an injury in the middle of spring training, there were some questions about the Yankees’ rotation. co
So when it became clear that Cole would be sidelined until at least June, those concerns were only heightened.
The season is only one month deep, with just over five turns through the rotation completed.
But to say that the Yankees’ starters have merely held the fort down in Cole’s absence might be shortchanging them.
Entering Friday, the Yankees’ rotation had the fourth-lowest ERA in the majors at 3.06, having thrown the sixth-most innings (141 ¹/₃) and accrued the seventh-highest fWAR (2.2).
“I think first and foremost, I feel like every start, whether it’s been perfect or a guy’s struggled a little bit, they’ve all given us a chance to win a game,” manager Aaron Boone said Friday before the Yankees opened a series against the Brewers at American Family Field. “We haven’t had that guy give it up early and we’re out of the game. … We’ve also had a number of real high-quality starts where we’ve gotten into the middle or even past the middle innings with very low run totals.
“They’ve done a good job of consistently giving us a chance to win every single night.”
The Yankees’ offense, which has yet to fully click, has wasted a few of those stronger starts over the past week.
But by and large, the group of Nestor Cortes, Carlos Rodon, Marcus Stroman, Clarke Schmidt and Luis Gil — plus a terrific spot start from Cody Poteet during a doubleheader in Cleveland — has given the Yankees what they need.
According to Cortes, that is in part thanks to some friendly competition.
“Having Stro here and Rodon, guys that have done it for a long time and have more experience than me, Clarke and Gil, it feels like there’s a friendly internal battle between us,” the left-hander said Friday, a day after completing seven innings for the third time in six starts.
“Obviously as a starter, you want to go deep into games. So right now, our focus is trying to go as deep as we can. It feels like we’re just trying to outdo each other every time we’re out there. It’s been good so far.”
The rotation is set to face its latest challenge on this seven-game road trip against the Brewers and Orioles, who have the fourth and third-highest OPS, respectively, in the majors.
Their success over the past week came against the Rays and A’s, who are both in the bottom-10 in OPS in the majors.
But to Boone’s point, the rotation has consistently kept the Yankees in games, giving up three or fewer earned runs in 23 of their 26 games entering Friday.
It was a formula for success, as the Yankees were 15-2 when scoring four runs or more.
“I think it’s fair to say there were questions around [the rotation], but I’m not surprised,” Boone said.
The five starters, and potentially more along the way, will be tasked with maintaining and building off their encouraging start to the season, even after Cole returns — which could be some time in June in a best-case scenario, with the reigning AL Cy Young winner potentially advancing to throwing off a mound at some point next week.
“Obviously this rotation with Gerrit is one of the best,” Cortes said. “I feel like us five, what we’re doing right now, I think any team would take it. It just shows you how good we can be when Gerrit does come back. Obviously when Gerrit starts, it’s almost like a for-sure win or we’re in the game at least. If you put us after him, it gives us a pretty good chance too.”