Okay so yesterday I was scrolling through some baseball stuff online, saw chatter about the Yankees versus Rays game. Everyone kept going on about Yandy Diaz and Gerrit Cole. Thought, “Huh, wonder how they really stacked up against each other that game?” Figured I’d dig into the stats myself instead of just reading hot takes.
Step 1: Where the Heck Are the Stats?
My first thought was MLB’s site, obviously. Pulled it up on my laptop. Easy enough to find the game recap. But honestly? Getting exactly the Diaz vs Cole matchup stats felt buried. Saw Diaz’s overall game line, saw Cole’s pitching line. Wasn’t clicking together for me fast. Searched their names together, still not what I wanted. Got slightly annoyed. You’d think comparing a hitter and pitcher directly would be simpler! Decided I needed more granular data.
Step 2: Okay, Dig Deeper with Baseball-Reference
Opened another tab, went to Baseball-Reference. I usually find their splits a bit clearer. Found the specific game box score. Clicked on Diaz’s name to get his game log, then scrolled down to “vs. Pitchers” for that game. Bingo!
Had to do the same for Gerrit Cole. Went back to the box score, clicked his pitching line. Then scrolled to find the “Batters Faced” section. This was the goldmine. Listed every single hitter he pitched to, including Diaz. Finally, the head-to-head!
Step 3: Putting the Face-Off Data Together
Alright, time to line ’em up. Baseball-Reference showed the Diaz vs Cole encounters within the game. I grabbed a notepad app:
- First Diaz AB vs Cole: Saw the result (e.g., flyout, groundout, hit).
- Second AB: Checked the result again.
- And so on, for every time Diaz came up while Cole was still pitching.
Jotted down:
At-Bat 1: Diaz grounded out to 2B.
At-Bat 2: Diaz flied out to CF.
At-Bat 3: Diaz got a single! (Noticed the pitch count too, if listed).
Compared this to Cole’s overall line: Maybe he pitched 6 innings, gave up 3 runs total. So Diaz got one hit off him, but Cole mostly handled him well. Key thing: Diaz didn’t seem to be a huge problem for Cole specifically that game.
Step 4: How About the Rest of the Game?
Felt I should give context, right? Cole looked great overall except maybe for one rough inning where others scored. Checked who did hit him hard. Saw maybe a couple of other Rays hitters had multiple hits off him.
Then looked at Diaz’s total game: He got a couple of hits, but were they off Cole only? Or did he get another hit off the bullpen later? Made sure I checked his full line. Yeah, he got that single off Cole and maybe later another hit off someone else.
Bottom Line I Found: Cole mostly won the battle against Diaz that night (1 hit out of 3 tries), even though Diaz ended the game looking alright overall. Cole’s damage came from elsewhere in the lineup. Not exactly a dominant Diaz takeover!
Wrapping It Up
Took a bit of clicking around and going back and forth between player logs on Baseball-Reference to isolate the specific pitcher-hitter matchup. * gave the broad strokes, but needed deeper digging for the duel. Final takeaway? Diaz fought, got one hit, but Cole kept him pretty quiet overall. Lesson: Never trust the broad headlines alone!
