TAMPA, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 24: Gerrit Cole #45 of the New York Yankees delivers a pitch in the first inning during the spring training game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Steinbrenner Field on February 24, 2020 in Tampa, Florida.
(Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)

Cole needed three strikeouts. It didn’t take long. 

Tab Bamford

Coming into Monday night’s Yankees-Rangers game, superstar ace Gerrit Cole needed three strikeouts to make major league history.

Just last Thursday, Milwaukee’s Corbin Burnes established a new big league record when he recorded his 58th strikeout without walking a batter. Cole came into Monday’s start with 56 strikeouts between free passes.

It took Cole one inning to get the three needed whiffs to take over the top spot in the record books.

Tab Bamford
Tab has written about Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League and the National Football League for more than a decade for publications including The Fourth Period, Bleacher Report, ChicagoNow and La Vida Baseball. He is the author of two books about the Chicago Blackhawks and has been credentialed for the MLB All-Star Game and postseason and multiple Stanley Cup Finals.