Former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole found himself in the midst of a perennial slump as the New York Yankees lost 7-6 to the Los Angeles Dodgers and lost the World Series in five games.

Cole, the No. 1 overall pick of the Pirates in 2011 and played five seasons in Pittsburgh, had almost a perfect start. He held the Dodgers hitless through the first four innings, striking out three batters and walking two, giving the Yankees a 5-0 lead.

Then the wheels started falling off.

After a leadoff single by Dodgers center fielder Kiké Hernández, Yankees center fielder Aaron Judge and shortstop Anthony Volpe each made an error, loading the bases with no outs. Cole got the better of Gavin Lux and Shohei Ohtani to escape the jam. Dodgers superstar Mookie Betts hit a routine ground ball to Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo, but Cole failed to cover first base, allowing Betts to reach base and score a run.

Then the wheels fell off completely.

The Dodgers continued to take advantage of the countless errors as a two-run single by Freddie Freeman and a two-run double by Teoscar Hernandez created five unearned runs in the inning to tie the game. According to Jay Cuda, the Yankees’ five unearned runs are the most in an elimination game in World Series history.

Cole came back with a scoreless sixth inning and retired with two outs in the seventh inning with the Yankees leading 6-5. He finished his night with 6.2 innings pitched, no earned runs allowed, and he gave up four hits, walked four batters and struck out six.

Cole went 1-0 with a 2.17 ERA in five playoff starts. In the World Series, he made two starts and allowed just one earned run over 12.2 innings. The Yankees lost both starts at the hands of Cole.

Clay Holmes, a former Pirates pitcher, relieved Cole and bailed out Max Muncy with runners on first and second. The Dodgers completed their comeback in the top of the eighth inning with two runs on sacrifice flies after loading the bases with no outs.

Cole posted a 59-42 record with a 3.50 ERA and struck out 734 batters in 782 1/3 innings during his five seasons in Pittsburgh from 2013 to 2018. The former Pirates star was then traded to the Houston Astros, where he developed into one of the best pitchers in baseball.

Cole had a 35-10 record with a 2.68 ERA in his two-year stint with the Astros before signing a nine-year, $324 million contract with New York in the 2020 offseason. Cole is 59-28 with a 3.12 ERA in his five seasons with the Yankees and won his first Cy Young Award in 2023.

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