DUNEDIN, Fla. (AP) — Kyle Higashioka is not Gerrit Cole’s personal catcher but they will be paired together a lot.
Higashioka omered twice to support Cole, and the New York Yankees beat Toronto 3-1 on Monday night in the Blue Jays temporary home at their spring training ballpark.
Higashioka caught Cole for the second straight start — and win — after working with him during last year’s playoffs. Gary Sánchez, the Yankees’ No. 1 catcher, was behind the plate for Cole’s first start of the season, against the Blue Jays on opening day.
“Full time, no,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “He’s going to catch him a lot. I like it because he usually lines up with wanting to give Gary a day (off). But I also feel good about Gary catching him. So, there’s going to be games where Gary catches him”
Cole (2-0) allowed one run and three hits in six innings, struck out eight and walked one. The hard-throwing right-hander finished with a flurry by retiring his final 15 batters — striking out seven. With 29 strikeouts this season, he matched David Cone for the most by a Yankees pitcher through three starts.
“I think the most satisfying part was after a kind of rough first inning or two kind of calmed down and kept them to no runs after that,” Higashioka said. “A credit to Gerrit, he really locked it in. That was pretty cool.”
Cole has a 1.47 ERA. He has struck out at least seven in his last 12 regular-season starts, the longest such stretch in Yankees history.
Robbie Ray (0-1) didn’t allow a hit before Rougned Odor singled with one out in the fifth and Higashioka followed with a 416-foot opposite-field shot to right-center for a 2-1 lead.
“Everyone feels good about the way Ray pitched today,” Toronto manager Charlie Montoyo said.
Higashioka made it 3-1 in…
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