Roy Oswalt threw some shade Gerrit Cole’s way after he didn’t cover first base during the Yankees’ disastrous fifth inning during Game 5 of the World Series.
The former three-time All-Star pitcher took to social media after Cole’s mishap, posting a screenshot on X of the right-hander as Mookie Betts raced past him to first base while Anthony Rizzo was caught in no man’s land with Cole’s box score imposed below.
Oswalt, who retired from baseball in 2013 after 13 seasons, had a problem with Cole’s stat line from the outing, crossing out the “0” earned runs and replacing it with a “5.”
By the official box score, Cole wasn’t at fault for any of the five runs the Dodgers scored in the fifth inning on Thursday after Aaron Judge dropped a line drive in center field and Anthony Volpe committed a throwing error.
The inning could have ended, however, without a single Dodgers run had Cole beat Betts to the bag.
Instead of getting out of the jam, Cole crumbled from there, with Freddie Freeman driving in two runs with a single to center field just a few pitches later.
Teoscar Hernandez followed Freeman with a game-tying two-run double, completely erasing the Yankees’ 5-0 lead.
“We just didn’t take care of the ball well enough in that inning,’’ Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Against a great team like that, they took advantage.”
The Yankees would retake the lead in the sixth inning before the Dodgers came back again in the eighth, making it a 7-6 game.
Oswalt placed the blame squarely on the Bombers’ routine miscues after the game.
“The Yankees left baseball fundamentals at the door tonight,” Oswalt wrote on X. “Truly embarrassed for them!”
