Gerrit Cole allows three straight homers in…
SAN DIEGO — Back-to-back-to-back turned out not to be the final word backbreaker.
But the fourth home run that Gerrit Cole allowed Sunday was.
Cole gave up three straight homers to start his outing, and while the Yankees staged a late rally to account for those three runs, it still was not enough as they fell to the Padres 4-3 in the sequence finale at Petco Park.
The 4 solo photographs off Cole, on a day when their lineup was stymied by former teammate Michael King, sank the Yankees and price them a probability to decide up a sport on the Rays with time working out to do so.
After wrapping up a 3-3 West Coast journey — including probably their last sequence without Aaron Judge — the Yankees (81-62) flew home trailing the Rays by 4 video games for the division with 19 video games left, while the Red Sox crept within 2 ¹/₂ video games of them for the top AL wild card.
King, in his second profession start against the Yankees after he was the centerpiece of the commerce return for Juan Soto, tossed six shutout innings. He gave the Yankees a probability to get back in it late, as he misplaced his command in the fifth inning and loaded the bases with two outs, but they had been unable to take benefit as Cody Bellinger flew out to end the menace.
Then, after Cole gave up his fourth home run of the day to Luis Campusano to put the Padres (75-68) forward 4-0 in the seventh inning, the Yankees mounted a comeback in the top of the eighth against lefty Adrian Morejon. It included an RBI double from Spencer Jones, his latest left-on-left success, and an infield single from pinch hitter Amed Rosario that turned into two more runs with an help from Morejon’s throwing error, pulling the Yankees within 4-3.
But after José Caballero, pinch working for Rosario, was thrown out attempting to steal second, Jasson Domínguez flew out to squash the rally.
New York Yankees beginning pitcher Gerrit Cole, left, talks with Austin Wells after giving up three home runs during the first inning of a baseball sport against the San Diego Padres on Sunday, September 6, 2026, in San Diego. AP Photo/Gregory Bull
Mason Miller then slammed the door shut on the Yankees in the ninth.
In between the home runs that bookended his outing, Cole settled in, though the harm was achieved.
Fernando Tatis Jr. led off the underside of the first by taking an outdoors curveball the other method, belting it into the correct discipline seats for the 1-0 lead.
Jake Cronenworth adopted by going to the alternative discipline as effectively, slicing a 97 mph, middle-in fastball down the left discipline line and protecting it just truthful and high enough to hit off the first story of the Western Metal Supply Co. building to make it 2-0.
Manny Machado then crushed a 97 mph fastball to useless middle discipline, a 416-foot blast that put the Padres forward 3-0 in the blink of an eye.
New York Yankees beginning pitcher Gerrit Cole watches a home run hit by San Diego Padres’ Jake Cronenworth during the first inning of a baseball sport Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026, in San Diego. AP Photo/Gregory Bull
Cole could have been lucky to restrict the harm to just three runs in the inning, as the six batted balls by the Padres in the body got here off the bat at 101.7 mph, 98.4 mph, 109.2 mph, 102.5 mph, 104.3 mph and 92.9 mph.
It was not the first time Cole had given up back-to-back-to-back home runs to lead off the first inning of a start. He also did it June 9, 2022 against the Twins, a sport the Yankees ended up coming back to win.
They practically pulled off the same feat Sunday before coming up short.
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