NEW YORK — With the game on the line, as he always done, Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake scrutinized his ace. Gerrit Cole had left a four-seamer over the plate to the Guardians’ Steven Kwan and watched it land in the right field stands. He had hit the next batter, and the one after that had doubled. Blake had trudged to the mound to remind Cole to keep the moment small, to focus pitch by pitch, to miss in the right places.
Now, perched in the dugout during the third inning of the first game of the American League Division Series, Blake watched Cole’s face.