Gerrit Cole made his first rehab appearance on Tuesday since being sidelined with nerve irritation and edema in his right elbow in mid-March, starting for the Double-A Somerset Patriots.
Cole held the Hartford Yard Goats scoreless over 3 1/3 innings. The right-hander allowed just two singles, didn\'t surrender a walk and faced one batter over the minimum. He threw 45 pitches, 34 for strikes, on a night he was slated to toss 40 to 50.
He said he was happy with \"really everything\" about the outing. He threw his entire repertoire for strikes. His fastball sat between 94 and 97 mph. He bemoaned leaving soft two breaking pitches over the plate, but that was about it a month to the day after he first threw off the mound following the injury.
Cole is expected to make another start for Somerset on Sunday. After that, he isn\'t sure.
\"Definitely close,\" Cole said of coming off the injured list to pitch for the New York Yankees. \"I\'m not sure how many more we need, but definitely closer rather than farther away. It should be right around the corner here.\"