Yankees ace Gerrit Cole ejected after calling out umpire, manager Aaron Boone also threw

NEW YORK – Take away everything else and you are left with Gerrit Cole grooving a fastball that destroyed Alex Verdugo.

“The long ball is definitely something that hurts him,” said manager Aaron Boone, following the Yankees’ 5-4 win against the Red Sox, on a Friday night where Aaron Judge stayed on 60 home runs and Cole and Boone left the field. were sent.

“We try to dive into that as much as possible and try to stay a little unpredictable.”

There was absolutely nothing unpredictable about the 99-mph 2-2 heater that launched Verdugo for an tying three-run homer in the sixth.

It followed a close 1-2.98-mph fastball that plate umpire Brian Knight correctly called a ball. Cole thought it was strike three, inning over.

“As a catcher, you want that field,” said Jose Trevino, a great framer, trying to raise it for a strike.

After Verdugo’s blast made it 4-4, Cole struckout JD Martinez and then charged at Knight, pointing and screaming, earning his first career throw-out.

Boone was quickly tossed about, trying to intervene.

“An emotional moment,” Cole said calmly. “I’m just a competitor, I’m just upset.”

Before the uproar, many in the sold-out crowd — 47,346 fans, hoping Judge (1-for-4, single) would make Roger Maris’ franchise and the AL single-season home run-record tie — were pushing Cole back to the excavated.

Yankees Universe may be rightly concerned about Cole’s penchant for the long ball ruining a big October start and leading to more heartbreak after the season.

In any case, Cole won’t have to face the last Red Sox again, having tormented him in five starts (nine home runs, a 5.59 ERA in 29 innings).

“It’s amazing that they’ve made mistakes on the seats this year,” said Boone, including Tommy Pham’s home run in the first inning to the right. “He was so good tonight, that makes it difficult.”

Cole has conceded 31 home runs in 31 starts. After last Sunday’s two-homer game in Milwaukee, Cole said he’s still “working through that process” of limiting the long ball.

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Late Friday night, Cole wasn’t sure whether to “go all the way back to the drawing board. It felt like we made some good strides today,” including “a step forward” in the quality of his gear.

Cole knocked out eight Red Sox and raised his MLB tally to 244, four behind Ron Guidry’s 1978 club record of 248.

That part of Cole’s start is what Boone focused on.

“I thought he was as dialed in as you could be. I loved his body language all night long.”

But Cole was in a crouched position for a while when Verdugo’s shot went over the field wall into the center right, and a minute later the Yankees’ ace was blind with fury on Knight.

“We were a little frustrated from an offensive perspective (with Knight) based on the chatter I was listening to,” Cole said of the short fuse that led to his removal.

After Trevino’s go-ahead single in the eighth helped the Yankees score their fifth straight win, bringing their magic number to four to win the AL East, Cole was more introspective.

Any rage should have been aimed at the heart-of-the-plate fastball to Verdugo anyway.

“The damage there is hard to swallow, but at the same time, there were some good things too,” said Cole, on a night when Yankees fans hoped to see a home run history and expected better from their $36 million ace.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole ejected after yelling at umpire