NEW YORK — Gerrit Cole wagged a finger 15 times at Mariners manager Scott Servais and threw a pitch to Jose Caballero that landed high up on the backstop.
Cole’s message was clear: Don’t mess with me.
“Sometimes a high fastball can be a really effective pitch. Got to change eye level,” the New York Yankees ace deadpanned after a 3-1 win over Seattle on Tuesday night that stopped a four-game losing streak.
Boosted by Anthony Rizzo‘s RBI double in the first inning and Billy McKinney‘s two-run homer in the second, New York improved to 7-0 when Cole pitches after a Yankees loss. Cole is 4-0 with a 1.87 ERA in those starts.
His 0-2 pitch to Caballero was as clear as an all-upper case tweet.
“I think that raised their antenna,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
Caballero stepped out repeatedly during his first two at-bats until the pitch clock was down to the 8-second requirement to be in the batter’s box and alert. Caballero walked to the edge of the circle after taking a called strike with two outs in the seventh, fouled off the next pitch and walked to the edge again, then returned and called his one allowed timeout.
Cole responded with a 97 mph fastball 10-15 feet above the batter’s head.
“He didn’t like the way I was manipulating the pitch clock but he just got excited, so that’s good,” Caballero said. “The rules are there for all of us, and I just had to be ready at 8 seconds.”
Caballero swung past a full-count fastball, and Cole stared at him as he walked off the mound. Cole turned to the Mariners’ dugout and wagged his right index finger over and over.
“Their manager had some choice words for me coming off the field and he was wagging his finger at me, so I wagged my finger at him,” Cole said.
Plate umpire Dan Bellino walked toward the New York dugout and had an intense discussion with Boone.
“I don’t remember it because, obviously, there was yelling, some back and forth at the dugouts,” Boone said. “I was like, ‘Why are you yelling at us?’ It felt like they started yelling at us right away.”
Servais finished his postgame interview before Cole spoke.
“Cabby plays the game the right way,” Servais said. “He plays by the rules. He gets in there. Obviously others didn’t think it was right, but Cabby’s done that since he’s been in the big leagues. He’s not going to change how he plays.”
Cole (8-1) allowed one run and four hits in 7 1/3 innings with eight strikeouts and a walk, giving up an opposite-field RBI double to Jarred Kelenic off the left-field wall in the sixth. Cole received a standing ovation when he was replaced by Clay Holmes, then raised his right index finger and thumb to tip his cap to the crowd of 43,130 as he walked to the dugout.
Holmes recorded five straight outs for his ninth save in 11 chances, ending a game that took just 2 hours, 9 minutes. The Cole-Caballero confrontation was the lasting memory.
“New age,” Boone said. “Pitch-clock age.”
The win came in the Yankees’ first home game since returning from a three-game sweep at the hands of the Boston Red Sox in Fenway Park.
Mariners right-hander Luis Castillo (4-5, 2.73 ERA), a pitcher that the Yankee coveted last year around the trading deadline, will take the mound Wednesday night having lost three straight starts for the first time since Aug. 25 to Sept. 5, 2021. He will be opposed by right-hander Jhony Brito (3-3, 5.58), who will be recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to make his first big league start since May 20.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.