Thirteen minutes.
How you felt about Gerrit Cole’s start Monday night probably boils down to how much weight you put on 13 minutes in the third inning. Cole gave up four hits and a fielder’s choice, four runs came in putting the Orioles up, at the time, 4-2.
Outside of those 13 minutes, Gerrit Cole threw seven innings, allowed three hits, no walks, 11 strikeouts and a solo home run. That is Cy Young-level performance, exactly what the nominal best pitcher in the AL should do against a team like Baltimore.
Something I’ve really tried to do is look for the bigger picture, the bigger story, than just a Statcast plot, and I think Cole’s start lets us talk about the bigger story.