Pirates Gerrit Cole Bounces Back With Four Strikeouts in AFL Action
By Tom Smith
Gerrit Cole
had an opportunity to show the Rising Stars game was simply one bad outing. He did that last night with a nice bounceback outing. Cole threw 56 pitches with 37 going for strikes.
The Pirates top pitching prospect went three innings and allowed two hits and a run while striking out four.
In the first inning, Cole got into trouble. He allowed a leadoff walk and then a stolen base by the speedy runner, Anthony Gose, who then scored on a groundout. After he allowed a two-out double, Cole got out of the inning.
Cole struckout two batters in the first inning and two more when he retired the side in order in the second inning. Over the three innings Cole recorded two groundouts and two flyouts. He has thrown 15 innings and recorded 16 strikeouts for the Mesa Solar Sox who lost the game by an 8-2 count.
The following story shows just how filthy that Cole changeup really is…along with a detailed look at his four other pitches. The author is blown away Cole is throwing five pitches this fall.