CHICAGO – Gerrit Cole declared himself completely over his bout with COVID-19 and “ready to go.”
And the Yankees ace will get his chance, Aaron Boone announced Sunday morning, as he will start Monday night in a makeup game against the Angels at the Stadium.
“I’m ready to pitch,” Cole said.
Cole, along with Jordan Montgomery, were placed on the COVID IL Aug. 3 (Boone said Montgomery was likely to start one of Tuesday’s doubleheader games against the Red Sox).
Cole, who said he “had no idea where I got it,” described the level to which he was affected by the virus.
“I’d probably characterize it as mild symptoms,” Cole said. “But I had the full gamut of pretty much everything (loss of taste, fever, etc.), minus the puking.”
The righthander said he lost “a little bit” of weight but nothing like the 18 pounds reliever Zack Britton lost after catching COVID-19 in January.
Cole comes into Monday’s start 10-6 with a 3.11 ERA – with 176 strikeouts over 130 1/3 innings – but 4-4 with a 4.68 ERA since June 3, around the time news broke of Major League Baseball’s intent to enforce its own rules regarding the application of sticky substances to baseballs (though still with 79 strikeouts over 59 2/3 innings in that stretch).
Cole has said since early June, without specifying, there were “adjustments” he would have to make and there certainly have been starts – such as his three-hit gem July 10 in Houston before the All-Star break – where he looked like the dominant pitcher he was the first two months of the season.
From afar Cole has been impressed with how the Yankees, who are 24-11 since their 41-41 start, have persevered as the injuries and COVID cases have continued to mount in that same period.
“We’re just looking for just the final piece to push it over the edge and really, really get white hot here,” Cole said. “But we’ve had a good next-man-up mentality. We’ve been playing a good brand of baseball, and we keep winning series.”
Latest on Gary, Sevy
Gary Sanchez, on the COVID IL since Aug. 5, began a rehab assignment Sunday with Double-A Somerset.
“(He’ll) probably be with us tomorrow working out (and could) potentially be in play for us in one of the Tuesday games,” Boone said. “But we’ll see.”
The Yankees also returned Luis Severino from his rehab assignment and the righthander, who hasn’t pitched in the majors since Game 3 of the 2019 ALCS, could make his season debut at some point this week.
Rizzo improving
Boone said Anthony Rizzo, on the COVID IL since Aug. 8, was “he was feeling a lot better (Sunday)” and “potentially” could be cleared to begin working out with the club before Monday’s game, though still not quite ready to be activated.
