Gerrit Cole is putting up historic numbers early.

On Saturday, with his 11-strikeout, zero-walk performance, he became just the second pitcher in MLB history to have 50+ strikeouts and no more than three walks in his first five games in a season. In all, Cole finished with seven innings of one-run ball on just three hits. Curt Schilling also did so in 2001.

And with the defending AL Cy Young Award winner in Shane Bieber toeing the same rubber as him in Cleveland, it made Cole's night seem even more impressive.

Manager Aaron Boone said Cole "maybe" was more intense considering the pitching matchup, but in all, he saw the same old Gerrit Cole.

"Gerrit’s always pretty locked in. I mean, he’s locked in on the days he’s not pitching. He’s an intense competitor when he’s on the mound," said Boone. "Maybe a little more edge though, knowing that this is obviously two special guys going against each other, but he answered the bell again."

There were times where Cole was visibly upset with himself when he missed his spots, even though his box score won't tell you that.

"Some three-ball counts I’d like to clean up sooner rather than later," Cole said when reflecting on his outing. "But we were convicted to some pitches in some situations where they were gonna be aggressive, and we executed. Fortunately, some things went our way… but ended up with a lot of good pitches.”

“That’s something he did really well," said Boone on Cole's ability to turn the page after something goes wrong. "I feel like he’s been doing that all year, but that’s the only thing that was a little bit of an issue for him, was he had a number of three-ball counts, or even counts where he fell behind, and just kept making pitches. Never lost them, and was able to put away a lot of guys today. Really strong outing by our ace."

Cole seemed to get better as the night went on - he had a blip in the fourth inning, where he allowed his only run, but he retired 11 straight to cap off his night.

“If I recall, I probably started to get a little better leverage. Allowed me to kind of just attack the zone. I just thought we got a little bit of a good run, making good pitches, and making guys swing at stuff that maybe they’re not necessarily anticipating in certain situations," the Yankees' ace said.

“I thought he was terrific," Boone said. "And obviously a game where we needed him to be really, really good, because we’re up against a really good one as well.”

The Yankees have won three in a row, and will look to sweep the Indians on Sunday at 1:10 p.m.

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