Breaking down Gerrit Cole’s historic winning streak heading into World Series Game 1
By Luke Norris
August 1 @ Cleveland Indians
After not losing a game in June or July, Gerrit Cole began August in the same fashion, going seven strong innings yet again in a 7-1 Astros win, their 70th of the season. The Indians had one run and four hits over the first four innings but that was it. As had become the norm, Cole got stronger as the game rolled along and while he only had four strikeouts on the night, he found different ways to get hitters out and dropped his ERA to 1.91 in the 13 starts since that loss on May 22.
W/L: 13-5
ERA: 2.87
K: 216
August 7 vs. Colorado Rockies
Gerrit Cole gave up two solo shots on August 7 against Colorado, one to All-Star Trevor Story in the first inning and the second to All-Star Nolan Arenado in the fourth, but the Rockies could only gather one more hit against Cole over six innings. Cole reached the double-digit mark in strikeouts for the first time in three starts, punching out 10 to take his league-leading total to 226. While this was Cole’s 10th straight win, the night belonged to Yuli Gurriel, who tied a franchise record with eight runs batted in.
W/L: 14-5
ERA: 2.87
K: 226
August 22 vs. Detroit Tigers
Gerrit Cole had a chance to avenge that loss to the Chicago White Sox but a tweaked hamstring forced him out of action for a couple of weeks, including a start against the Pale Hose, so this was his first start in 15 days. Things hadn’t changed a bit. Cole was masterful, throwing just 94 pitches in seven scoreless innings, striking out 12 Tigers in a 6-3 victory. He gave up just two hits and walked only one. With missing those couple of weeks, he did fall behind in the strikeout race but his dozen took him to 238 on the year, just one behind teammate Justin Verlander. Man, that’s a scary one-two combo, isn’t it?
W/L: 15-5
ERA: 2.75
K: 238
August 28 vs. Tampa Bay Rays
The Astros picked up an 8-6 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on August 28 but Gerrit Cole was unable to extend his career-long winning streak to 12 in a no-decision outing. He still looked good, striking out 14 in six 2/3 innings, but he gave up four runs in that time, including a single in the top of the seventh that gave Tampa the 4-3 lead before he was pulled. However, the Houston offense kept the streak intact by scoring three runs in the bottom of the inning and two more in the eighth.
W/L: 15-5
ERA: 2.85
K: 252