NEW YORK — Gerrit Cole said he will start for the New York Yankees on Sunday against the Toronto Blue Jays after missing his scheduled outing Tuesday with “general body fatigue.”
Cole told reporters the plan after throwing a bullpen session Friday at Yankee Stadium. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said the decision was contingent on how Cole felt during the bullpen. The Yankees hadn’t listed a starter for Sunday’s series finale.
Cole, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, emphasized that the decision not to pitch Tuesday against the Philadelphia Phillies was not related to his previously injured right elbow. He insisted his body just didn’t recover as expected after his previous start against the Mets on July 24. Boone added that Cole had been dealing with a stomach bug.
“I feel very fatigued,” Cole said Tuesday. “I’m grinding a little bit.”
Cole began the season on the injured list with nerve irritation and edema in the elbow. He made his season debut on June 19 not having been fully ramped up to his usual pitch count after four rehab starts. He continued building stamina over his first four outings with the Yankees before reaching 100 pitches in each of his past three starts. Cole has posted a 5.40 ERA across 35 innings in his seven outings this season.
OAKLAND, Calif. — The Chicago White Sox lost their 21st straight game, tying the American League record with a 5-1 defeat to the Oakland Athletics on Monday night as Max Schuemann hit a tiebreaking, two-run single in the fourth inning.
Chicago is on the longest losing streak since the 1988 Baltimore Orioles lost 21 in a row. The NL record since 1900 is held by the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies, who lost 23 straight.
The major league low belongs to the 1889 Louisville Colonels, an American Association team that lost 26 consecutive games during a 27-111 season.
Chicago, which last won on July 10 in a doubleheader opener against Minnesota, dropped to 27-88 and is on pace to finish 38-124, which would be the most losses since the 1899 Cleveland Spiders of the National League went 20-134. The White Sox have been held to one run or none 32 times.
“We talk about it every day, everybody knows what it is,” Chicago manager Pedro Grifol said after the loss. “It’s 21 in a row, it sucks, it’s painful, it hurts, you name it. … Like I said, it’s not for lack of effort. Nobody wants to come out here and lose.”
Measuring up against the rest of baseball after the All-Star break is even more dreary for the White Sox. Sixteen of their losses in the streak have come post-break, and according to ESPN Stats & Information research, every other team in the majors has at least four victories in that span.
“You just try to turn the page,” outfielder Corey Julks said. “Look forward to the next day, bounce back, don’t dwell on the loss, just try to learn from them and get better each day. … We’re just trying to rally as a team and find a way to get a win.”
Former White Sox great Frank Thomas, a Hall of Fame first baseman, was on the team’s postgame show on NBC Sports Chicago Monday, and said he would throw a postgame tantrum with reporters if he were managing this team.
“It’s time to snap,” Thomas said. “That’s the only way through the players right now. Snap. I’m serious. I don’t want to hear no more: ‘We’re trying.’ No more: ‘They’re working hard every day.’ No, it’s time to snap. It’s time to kick over the spread.”
Thomas played for the White Sox from 1990 to 2005 as part of a 19-season career. Now 56, the two-time AL MVP hit 521 home runs, including 448 for Chicago. He was elected to the Hall of Fame on the first ballot in 2014.
“I’m not being nice. Kick the door. Slam the door! ‘Get out of here! I’m tired of answering questions,'” Thomas suggested would be his reaction as manager. “‘We’ve lost 21 in — we’re the laughingstock of baseball. You think I don’t know that?’