Gerrit Cole shattered a New York Yankees’ Opening Day record that stood for over 30 years.
The Yankee ace took the rubber against the San Francisco Giants on a sunny day in The Bronx on Thursday. Cole flexed his muscles and powered his way through the Giant lineup who practically didn’t stand a chance.
In 1991, Tim Leary struck out nine Detroit Tigers on Opening Day. Since then, Leary’s nine strikeouts were the most on Opening Day in Yankee franchise history. Until March 30, 2023, as it now belongs to Cole.
Cole got to 10 strikeouts on the afternoon, which was enough to finally push Leary’s record down to second place.
Given the slew of great pitchers the Yankees have trotted out on Opening Day over the years, it’s crazy that it took this long for someone to throw over nine strikeouts.
Leary never pitched on Opening Day again for the team after that. From there, Jimmy Key, David Cone, Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens, Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez, Mike Mussina, Randy Johnson, Carl Pavano, Chien-Ming Wang, CC Sabathia, Masahiro Tanaka, and Luis Severino have opened the season for the Bronx Bombers. That’s multiple Cy Young winners, a lot of aces, and some really strong performers.
Cole ended the sixth inning with another punchout, so his mark will swell up to at least 11. Whether he turns up for the seventh or not, the Yankee ace made Opening Day history.
About Chris Novak
Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022