Gerrit Cole was cruising.
The Yankees bats had come alive.
It was 5-0 after four innings and the Dodgers didn’t have a hit.
The World Series felt destined for Friday night in Los Angeles.
Then, it all came crashing down for the reigning American League Cy Young award winner.
Defense played a major part, including his own inability to cover first base, but Cole also couldn’t put away Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez in a big spot.
While he left with the Yankees up a run, he flushed a five-run lead in their season-ending, 7-6 loss to the Dodgers at the Stadium on Wednesday night.
Cole delivered his second-longest outing of the postseason in his biggest start in pinstripes, going 6 ²/₃ innings without allowing an earned run, striking out six and walking four.
He retired six of the final seven Dodgers he faced, finally pulled after walking Freeman with two outs in the seventh.
But the Yankees needed Cole to pitch like an ace.
To send this World Series back to Los Angeles.
Outside of a disastrous fifth inning that was impacted by multiple misplays in the field, he was mostly up to the task.
But, oh, that fifth inning.
Cole started the game at his best, retiring the first eight batters he faced and not allowing a hit until Enrique Hernandez’s leadoff single in the fifth.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the Yankees in the postseason:
Then, everything went wrong.
Aaron Judge and Anthony Volpe made errors on consecutive plays.
After Cole struck out Gavin Lux and Shohei Ohtani, looking like he may get out of it, another defensive gaffe followed.
Anthony Rizzo bobbled a Mookie Betts roller, and Cole didn’t get over to first base to cover, allowing the Dodgers’ first run to score.
Cole couldn’t finish off either Freeman or Hernandez, allowing two-strike hits to both that enabled the Dodgers to get even at five.
Freeman got to a 99 mph fastball that caught too much of the plate and laced it to center field to score two runs.
Hernandez smoked a slider that Cole didn’t get away far enough, driving in two more runs.
To Cole’s credit, he responded to that five-run fifth by shutting down the Dodgers from there.
That’s where Cole found his best, retiring six in a row after a walk to Max Muncy.
He threw 108 pitches, his most in a game all year.
He didn’t tire late due to the high pitch count.
He unloaded the tank in his 2024 swan song on the mound.
“I wouldn’t trust anyone else. He’s Gerrit Cole,” fellow starter Carlos Rodon said earlier in the day. “I was asked this last night. His resume speaks for itself, a future Hall of Famer.”
It was a strange year for Cole.
He didn’t make his first start until June 19 due to elbow troubles.
He was up and down when on the mound, pitching to a 3.41 ERA while his workload was closely monitored.
His first start of the playoffs was shaky, a four-run effort over five innings against the Royals.
But over his last four outings, he held the opposition to four earned runs over 24 innings.
Still, there was that fifth inning.
The Freeman and Hernandez at-bats.
Cole couldn’t make the five-run lead stand up.
The Yankees are going home.
