The Boston Red Sox completed a dismantling of the New York Yankees in a three game series sweep over the weekend. Outscoring New York 22-9 in this series, the Red Sox were able to bury their division rival in their pursuit of a Wild Card spot, contributing to the Yankees' longest losing streak since 1995.
Everything was working for the Red Sox in New York, from stellar starting pitching performances to an offense that rediscovered its firepower, hitting six home runs in the series.
On Saturday, the Red Sox tagged the leading Cy Young candidate Gerrit Cole with six runs and seven hits. Both Rafael Devers and Luis Urias hit home runs off Cole, with Urias hitting his second grand slam in three days.
When asked about the outing after the game, Cole had some interesting words to share, per MLB's Bill Ladson: "Obviously not my best stuff today. I put a lot of well-located pitches and paired a lot of good pitches together. I'm just a little bit confused on why the level of execution on their side is so high ... . For whatever reason, they were extra focused and able to bring out their best bullets today. Not only did they capitalize on poor pitches, but they capitalized on really, really good pitches."
Did Gerrit Cole just accuse the Red Sox of cheating?
These comments from Cole are jarring to say the least. Not only did he refuse to take any accountability on his rough outing, but he also insinuated that the only possible reason for his blunder was that the Red Sox cheated in some way.
New York's ace seems to have trouble taking accountablity for many of his actions throughout his career. When the infamous ban of sticky substances came in 2021, the right-hander was right in the spotlight as one of the players who likely used the now banned substances to gain an advantage.
Cole was very outspoken in fighting back against the ban, and struggled to find an answer when he was asked if he had used sticky substances in a press conference.
The Red Sox success against Cole is nothing new. Based on Cole's splits against all 29 teams, he has allowed a career high 22 home runs in 98 innings against Boston, the second highest being the Tampa Bay Rays at 15. He also carries a 4.68 ERA in 17 starts when facing the Red Sox. Even with a few rough outings, Cole is still 7-5 against the Red Sox throughout his career.
Boston is now 8-1 against New York this season, with a team batting average of .299 in those nine games, along with 10 home runs. The Red Sox hold similar batting average and home run totals against the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays. Based on the splits against other AL East teams, Cole's accusation does not hold any weight.
This has been a trend for some time now; Cole seems to struggle against Rafael Devers and the Red Sox. For a Cy Young candidate to claim that a team fighting to stay afloat in a Wild Card hunt is cheating, while New York's season quickly comes to an end is perplexing. Instead of assuming the Red Sox cheated, Cole should focus on his next start to try to turn his team's season around.