Yanks rough up Smyly; Cubs no match for Cole in 6-3 loss

Gerrit Cole has been one of the best pitchers in baseball for the past five years.

Over that time, the Yankees' star has a winning percentage of .720 with a 2.98 ERA and a strikeout ratio of 12⅓ per nine innings.

So when Cole's on the mound, it goes without saying your team's starter better be on his game.

That was definitely not the case for the Cubs on Saturday, as Drew Smyly gave up a mammoth 447-foot home run to Giancarlo Stanton in the first inning, a homer to Josh Donaldson in the second and a 2-run double to Harrison Bader in the third.

The Yankees went on to a 6-3 victory, sending the Cubs (41-47) to their ninth loss in 13 games.

"(Smyly's) been kind of grinding as of late, working really hard trying to find that rhythm he had early on," Cubs manager David Ross told reporters. "Just hadn't quite been there lately."

Smyly struggled with his control from the get-go, throwing first-pitch strikes to only eight of the first 16 batters. Stanton's HR came on a 1-0 pitch; Donaldson's HR on a 2-2 pitch; and Bader's double on a 2-0 pitch. Stanton's blast had an exit velocity of 118.1 mph, making it the third-hardest hit ball in MLB this season according to baseballsavant.

"Stanton's a massive human being," said Smyly, who lasted only 4 innings. "You feel like if you throw it in the strike zone you're just putting it on a tee."

Stanton hit a second home run off Michael Rucker in the fifth to give New York a 6-1 lead. He now has 9 HRs on the season and 387 in his 14-year career.

Cole, who threw first-pitch strikes to the first 12 batters he faced, tossed 7⅓ innings and improved to 9-2. He retired the side in the first, fourth, fifth and sixth innings.

"He's a really good pitcher," Ross said. "When you've got an ace on the mound like that, you've got to be able to match them for zeros and hope you can do something a little bit later."

Smyly was one of the best pitchers in baseball from April 10 to May 23, giving up 2 or fewer earned runs in nine straight starts. The best outing came against the Dodgers on April 21 when he took a perfect game into the eighth inning.

But since late May, the wheels have come off. In his last eight starts, Smyly (7-6) has yielded 52 hits and 22 walks in 38⅔ innings.

His ERA? A ghastly 6.75.

"I feel like I can throw a strike at any moment," Smyly said. "It's maybe just a mindset of being more aggressive in the zone. In this game, when things go a little south on you, it can feel like the strike zone shrinks. ... And when it's going right, you just kind of say, 'here it is' and things go your way."

The Cubs managed just 5 hits, one of which was a 2-run HR by Mike Tauchman in the eighth.

The Yankees (49-41) snapped a three-game losing streak. They are 14-16 since losing slugger Aaron Judge to a torn ligament in his right big toe on June 3.

• The Cubs placed Dansby Swanson on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to July 6) with a left heel contusion. Miles Mastrobuoni, recalled from Iowa, played third base and batted ninth. He went 2-for-3 and scored 2 of the Cubs' 3 runs.

• This was Giancarlo Stanton's first multihomer game since May 12, 2022, against the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field.

• Kyle Hendricks (3-3, 2.64 ERA) faces Domingo German (5-5, 4.52) in the series finale Sunday.