At one point in Wednesday's game against the Baltimore Orioles, Gerrit Cole had retired 19 of 20 batters, including 14 in a row.

Simply put, the ace was on his A game.

But not before a slight blip in the first inning where he allowed a leadoff walk to Austin Hays, and an RBI double to Jose Iglesias.

"I think I kind of just got into the rhythm. I only was really upset with the one pitch to Iglesias, and I just felt that I could've challenged the leadoff hitter a little more over the plate, but by and large, we executed a lot of those pitches in the first," said Cole. "As we started to roll, there was some unpredictability there I thought, and then matched out with executing more pitches than not, and it flowed a little bit."

"As the game wore on, I thought he got really comfortable," said manager Aaron Boone.

With two outs in the seventh inning, Cole allowed three extra-base hits on three pitches, including a two-run homer to Dwight Smith, Jr., effectively ending his night.

"First time up over 100 [pitches], there might be something there, but I thought by and large that he threw the ball really, really well," said Boone.

"I was pleased with the outing. It just didn't end on a high note," said Cole.

Cole gave credit to Gary Sanchez for helping him through an Orioles' lineup he hasn't faced much in his career.

"This is now the fourth, fifth time in a row working with him, so our communication was flowing well, and I think we were able to keep a steady mix to kind of stay one step ahead of them in some times," said Cole. "But I leaned a lot on Gary's familiarity, and we executed a lot of pitches, so we were in a good spot."

"He's not one of those guys that just wanders on," Boone said. "I think he likes the dialogue that he has with Gary and the pitching coach."

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