Facing a Critic, Yankees’ Cole Lets His Pitches Do the Talking

Publicly accused of cheating by Josh Donaldson, Gerrit Cole followed up an awkward news conference by dominating him and the Twins.

MINNEAPOLIS — Ever so briefly, Gerrit Cole stared at Josh Donaldson, a player he had struck out in each of his first two at-bats Wednesday night. Over the weekend, Donaldson, a third baseman for the Minnesota Twins, had obliquely accused Cole, the ace of the Yankees’ rotation, of using sticky substances to boost the spin rate of his pitches to make them more effective. On Wednesday, facing the superstar pitcher he had accused, Donaldson appeared overmatched. After his first strikeout, he had shouted in frustration after flailing at a high breaking ball. After the second, he said something to the home-plate umpire Quinn Wolcott before walking away. On Donaldson’s third at-bat, when he flied out to right field leading off the bottom of the sixth inning, Cole watched Donaldson as he jogged toward first base.