NEW YORK (AP) — Yankees ace Gerrit Cole pitched six shutout innings in his return from elbow ligament reconstruction that caused a 569-day absence, leaving with a 1-0 lead against the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night.
A 35-year-old right-hander who had surgery in March 2025, Cole allowed two hits and three walks while striking out two. He threw 50 of 72 pitches for strikes, starting 18 of 22 batters with an offering in the strike zone.
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New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole throws during the second inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Friday, May 22, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole picks up the ball before a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Friday, May 22, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole, center, walks to the mound before a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Friday, May 22, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole prepares to throw during the first inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Friday, May 22, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Friday, May 22, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
A six-time All-Star and the 2023 AL Cy Young Award winner, Cole was unusually sharp for a pitcher coming off a long layoff. He needed just 11 pitches in the third and fourth innings and retired 10 in a row during one stretch.
He averaged 96.1 mph with 35 four-seam fastballs, reaching a high of 98.6 mph in the first. He mixed in 13 sinkers, 10 sliders, eight changeups and six knuckle-curves.
Cole picked off a runner to help escape first-inning trouble and showed emotion when he screamed after throwing a full-count fastball past Jonathan Aranda for a called third strike in the fifth.
Austin Wells backed him with a fifth-inning homer off Nick Martinez.
With a few days of stubble on his face, Cole warmed up to the Rolling Stones' “Gimme Shelter,” then crouched on the infield grass just behind the mound and concentrated on the dirt. He then used his new overhead hand movement in his windup, adopted during his rehab.
Cole kept up his energy by munching on bananas in the dugout between innings.
Chandler Simpson took a 95.9 mph called strike starting the game, then blooped an opposite-field single to left-center on another fastball and advanced when Junior Caminero walked on a full count. Aranda flied out, Cole picked off a dancing Simpson at second and Yandy Díaz took a sinker for a called third strike.
Cole worked around a one-out walk in the second, then retired the side in order during a seven-pitch third and again in a four-pitch fourth. He retired 10 straight batters before Cedric Mullins' fifth-inning single.
Cole had not pitched a big league outing that counted since Oct. 30, 2024, in Game 5 of the World Series, when the Los Angeles Dodgers overcame a 5-0 deficit with five unearned runs against Cole and took the title.
He went for tests after allowing a pair of home runs in his second spring training start in 2025, against Minnesota that March 6, and had reconstructive elbow surgery five days later.
Cole made a pair of one-inning spring training starts this year on March 18 and 24, then began minor league rehab outings on April 17. He had a 4.71 ERA in 28 2/3 innings, allowing 28 hits while striking out 28 and walking three.
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New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole throws during the second inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Friday, May 22, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole picks up the ball before a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Friday, May 22, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole, center, walks to the mound before a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Friday, May 22, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole prepares to throw during the first inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Friday, May 22, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Friday, May 22, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
SpaceX launched its biggest, most powerful Starship yet on a test flight Friday, an upgraded version that NASA is counting on to land astronauts on the moon.
The redesigned mega rocket made its debut two days after SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced he’s taking the company public. It blasted off from the southern tip of Texas, carrying 20 mock Starlink satellites that were released midway through the hourlong spaceflight that stretched halfway around the world.
The spacecraft reached its final destination — the Indian Ocean — despite some engine trouble, before erupting in flames upon impact. That last part was not unexpected, according to SpaceX.
Musk called it “an epic” launch and landing.
“You scored a goal for humanity,” he told his team via X.
It’s the 12th test flight of the rocket that Musk is building to get people to Mars one day. But first comes the moon and NASA’s Artemis program.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman flew in for the launch, saying Starship is now one step closer to the moon.
The last of the old space-skimming Starships lifted off in October. SpaceX’s third-generation Starship — a souped-up version dubbed V3 — soared from a brand-new launch pad at Starbase, near the Mexican border. Last-minute pad issues thwarted Thursday evening's launch attempt.
SpaceX was hoping to avoid the fireworks it experienced during back-to-back launches last year when midair explosions rained wreckage down on the Atlantic. Earlier flights also ended in flames.
There was no fireball this time until the very end. The spacecraft plummeted upright into the Indian Ocean under seemingly full control, then toppled over and ignited.
While the liftoff itself went well, not all of the engines fired as the booster attempted a controlled return. The spacecraft also had to make do with fewer engines, but kept heading eastward 120 miles (194 kilometers) up. A pair of modified, camera-equipped Starlinks ejected from Starship provided brief views of the spacecraft in flight — a remarkable first.
At 407 feet (124 meters), the latest model eclipses the older Starship lines by several feet (more than 1 meter) and packs more engine thrust.
The revamped booster sports fewer but bigger and stronger grid fins for steering it back to Earth following liftoff, and a larger and more robust fuel transfer line to feed the 33 main engines. This fuel line is the size of SpaceX's Falcon 9 first-stage booster. The retro-looking, stainless steel spacecraft also has more of everything — more cameras and more navigation and computer power — as well as docking cones for future rendezvous and moon missions.
Starship is meant to be fully reusable, with giant mechanical arms at the launch pads to catch the returning rocket stages. But on this latest trial run, nothing was being recovered. The Gulf of Mexico marked the end of the road for the redesigned first-stage booster, and the Indian Ocean for the spacecraft and its satellite demos.
NASA is paying SpaceX billions of dollars — and also Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin — to provide the lunar landers that will be used to land Artemis astronauts on the moon.
The two companies are scrambling to be first.
While Starship has reached the fringes of space on multiple flights lasting an hour at most, Bezos' Blue Moon has yet to lift off, although a prototype is being readied for a moonshot later this year.
NASA is following April’s successful lunar flyaround by four astronauts with a docking trial run in orbit around Earth planned for next year. For that Artemis III mission, astronauts will practice docking their Orion capsule with Starship, Blue Moon or both.
A moon landing by two astronauts — Artemis IV — could follow as soon as 2028 using either Starship or Blue Moon, whichever lander is safer and ready first. It will be NASA’s first lunar landing with a crew since 1972’s Apollo 17. The goal this time is a moon base near the lunar south pole, staffed by astronauts as well as robots.
SpaceX is already taking reservations for private flights to the moon and Mars on Starship.
The world's first space tourist, California businessman Dennis Tito, and his wife signed up 3 1/2 years ago for a flight around the moon. The timing is uncertain.
This week, another wealthy space tourist — Chinese-born bitcoin investor Chun Wang — announced he will fly to Mars on Starship's first interplanetary mission. Wang previously chartered a SpaceX polar flight in a Dragon capsule last year and, along with his hand-picked crew, became the first to orbit above the north and south poles.
No price tag or date was revealed for his Mars cruise.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
SpaceX's mega rocket Starship makes a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
SpaceX's mega rocket Starship makes a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
SpaceX's mega rocket Starship makes a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
SpaceX's mega rocket Starship makes a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
SpaceX's mega rocket Starship makes a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
SpaceX's mega rocket Starship makes a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
SpaceX's mega rocket Starship makes a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
SpaceX's mega rocket Starship makes a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
The sun rises behind SpaceX's mega rocket Starship as it is prepared for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
The sun rises behind SpaceX's mega rocket Starship as it is prepared for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
The sun rises behind SpaceX's mega rocket Starship as it is prepared for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Trucks with nitrogen line up to help prepare SpaceX's mega rocket Starship for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Trucks with nitrogen line up to help prepare SpaceX's mega rocket Starship for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
The sun rises behind SpaceX's mega rocket Starship as it is prepared for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
