Yankees 4, Athletics 2: The Cole Train runs through Oakland

Gerrit Cole is really really good at pitching. His last outing against Boston, an admitted stinker, left a smelly miasma. Otherwise, he'd been locked in for the last couple months. Tonight, Cole took it to another level. If the offense had come through in time, he'd have tossed a Maddux. Instead, he had to settle for the rare nine-inning win that was not a complete game, the Yankees' first since 1976 .

I suspect though that if the Yanks had asked, he would have stomped back out to the mound for the 10th inning to try and lock down the extra-inning CG. Nonetheless, Luke Weaver capably nailed the 4-2 victory and his third save in as many opportunities since unofficially moving into the closer's role.

Speaking of the offense, I can't prove this without doing a ton of research, but it feels like the Yankees are infuriatingly incompetent against pitchers they are facing the first time. They've been like this since time immemorial (or at least the last decade or so). Boy oh boy, they were on brand tonight. Through four innings against J.T. Ginn they mustered two paltry baserunners: singles by Gleyber Torres in the first and Anthony Volpe in the third. Both, of course, were promptly erased by double plays by the very next hitters. Nothing like making a rookie starter who entered the game with an ERA that flirted with 5.00 look like Greg Maddux.

Thankfully, Cole came out of the gates much better than when we last saw him. He effortlessly retired the Athletics in the first, highlighted by a whiff of Brent Rooker, who's quietly become one of the Junior Circuit's most feared sluggers.

The second was more of the same. Three hitters stepped to the dish, and three went back to the dugout. The inning might have turned out differently without a sparkling defensive play by Gleyber Torres, who threw out Zach Gelof from the seat of his pants after laying out to snare Gelof's grounder.

Oakland snapped the scoreless tie in the fourth. After a leadoff single from Lawrence Butler, he stole second. Shea Langeliers came to the dish and grounded a ball through the left side. Butler scored easily and Oakland led, 1-0.

The bottom of the Yankee lineup picked up their ace in the fifth. Anthony Rizzo worked a well-deserved walk, and Trent Grisham singled deep enough to left-center to move Rizzo to third. To the dish stepped Anthony Volpe. It feels like he has stranded a literal army of runners the last couple of weeks. So, to see him single into left field and score Rizzo was incredibly satisfying.

Stranded in a sea of offensive ineptitude, Cole continued to cruise. After the Yanks knotted the contest at one, he calmly retired Oakland to send the game to the sixth. He maintained his mastery then too, and through six, Cole had allowed only two hits. With a pitch count at 64, he was in good shape to keep pitching deep into the night.

Leading off the seventh, Giancarlo Stanton reminded us that baseball is cruel. Stanton smoked a line drive to right, off the top of the wall. It's bad enough that per Statcast, it would have been a home run in a dozen parks (including Yankee Stadium). But between G's molasses wheels and stellar defense in right, the 357-foot laser yielded merely a single. After Rizzo grounded into a double play, it was like Stanton never reached base at all. Oh, and the Yanks pinch-ran Jasson Domínguez for Stanton, so the latter's prodigious power was gone from the game.

Cole kept doing yeoman's work on the hill though. The Yankee ace surrendered a leadoff walk in the bottom of the seventh but a double play with one out sent Cole back to the dugout. Seemingly unfazed by being the only successful player in road gray in wake of another quiet inning for the lineup, Cole went back to the mound for the eighth and again casually dispatched Oakland. The Yankees had another chance to reward their ace with a win for his amazing performance before this game went to Bonus Cantos.

But by waiting until the ninth inning, they had to try and hit phenom closer Mason Miller. That endeavor went precisely as well as you might expect. At least this time, the Athletics' hurler was throwing 102 mph, which seems like it would be difficult to hit.

With his pitch count still reasonable at 85, Cole returned for the ninth. The Anthonys teamed up for the first out, with Volpe ranging to his left and firing to first, while Rizzo scooped the throw. No. 45 took care of the second out himself, pulling the string on a pair of changeups for his seventh whiff. Finally, Cole induced a harmless fly ball to right from Rooker.

The defending AL Cy Young Award winner's final line: 9 f the Yanks could capitalize in the 10th, he would miraculously still be in line for the win.

Off to Bonus Cantos. The Martian started at second as the Manfred Man. Rizzo promptly singled him to third, though Jasson may have been able to score if he or third-base Luis Rojas had registered the bobbled ball in right field. That brought Generational Yankee Juan Soto to the plate as a pinch-hitter, one night after smashing his knee into the wall in Seattle, which forced him to the bench at the start of Friday night.

That's when the old run-scoring passed ball reared its head, thereby scoring Domínguez to break the tie. On the next pitch, Soto laced a ball to right field. The third Yankee run of the night crossed the dish. The Yankees should probably pay Soto.

Volpe's third knock of the night scored yet another run, extending the lead to 4-1, which is where it sat as the game went to the bottom half, Luke Weaver on for the save.

J.J. Bleday brought home the zombie runner, trimming the Yankee lead to two runs. But from there, Weaver blew through the next three hitters he faced, getting himself the save and Cole that unusual win.

The magic number for the AL East is now five and the division lead remains at four due to Baltimore's win over Detroit. I, for one, think that the Yankees should win again tomorrow to keep lowering said magic number. Tune in to see if they can do it! First pitch at 9:07 pm Eastern. Carlos Rodón will get the ball and chase his 16th win of the season, with former Yankees lefty J.P. Sears pitching for Oakland.