Gerrit Cole knew better than to give the Red Sox even an ounce of bulletin-board material Monday.
Cole will be on the mound for the Yankees on Tuesday when New York battles Boston in the American League Wild Card Game. The four-time All-Star will be opposite Nathan Eovaldi, and the two hard-throwing right-handers will try to lead their respective teams to the divisional round.
The Yankees ace met with the media one day before the do-or-die matchup and was asked about an incident he apparently was involved with at this year’s MLB All-Star Game. According to a mic’d-up J.D. Martinez, Cole cold-shouldered the Red Sox All-Stars in Denver when they tried to greet him.
Cole unsurprisingly played it coy when asked about Martinez’s account.
“I don’t recall having a ton of conversations with them. We were on opposite sides of the clubhouse,” Cole told reporters, per The Boston Globe. “Certainly don’t remember some of the exchanges that have been reported.”
If the Red Sox want to advance to play the Tampa Bay Rays, they’ll probably need to fare better than they did in their last matchup with Cole. The ninth-year pro allowed three runs on five hits over six innings in New York’s 8-3 win over Boston on Sept. 24.
