Tuesday’s opener to the latest edition of the Subway Series was far from what the Yankees and Gerrit Cole were hoping for.

Last season’s AL Cy Young winner made his second start since starting the year on the IL with shoulder and elbow issues, but after tossing five innings in his first 2024 outing, the Yankees ace could not go that long in his 9-7 loss to the Mets.

Cole pitched just four innings, giving up six runs on seven hits (four home runs, the most he’s given up since 2022), four walks and did not strike out a batter -- the second time he’s done that in his career.

“Disappointing,” Cole said of his outing after the game. “Didn’t give us a good chance to win tonight. Didn’t execute enough good pitches and dug us a hole.”

A lot of the postgame questions were about Cole’s health -- easy questions to ask considering Cole’s fastball was seemingly one-to-two mph slower than his usual 96-97, especially after the first inning.

The Mets took Cole yard three times off of the ace’s fastball and he labored through his four innings, throwing 72 pitches but only 44 for strikes.

However, Cole says that his diminished velocity after the 28-pitch first inning was by design.

“It’s a bit like driving a car,” he said. “Too much clutch or too little clutch can slip you out of gear. [The fastball] was tremendous in the first but had to make a lot of pitches but we just weren’t in the strike zone enough and it cost us 28 pitches. You’re trying to get as deep into the ballgame as you can.”

“Thought he came out hot in the first inning,” manager Aaron Boone said of Cole. “Velo was there and taxed him obviously. ... he was dialed up. He was cutting it loose a little bit and dialed it back in the second and didn’t get the location against a team whose been swinging the bat well and made him pay for two there.”

Cole said he feels “really good” physically and he believes he has nailed his progression so far. He pointed out this is the first time he’s had to throw 28 pitches in an inning, the first time he’s hit 98 mph on his fastball and went past 70 pitches.

“I feel pretty good in those regards,” Cole added. “Under the umbrella that this was a pretty tough night and I didn’t give us a chance to win.”

Aaron Judge, whose grand slam cut the Mets’ lead to 9-7 in the eighth inning, said he’s not concerned with Cole after Tuesday’s performance. He called these last two starts Cole’s “extended spring training” and that he’s getting back to form on the go. When asked if he agreed with Judge’s assessment, Cole said it was a “fair” one and explained how that’s especially true with sequencing.

“Seeing the way people are reacting to the ball on a regular basis in the major leagues, that helps your instincts and I don’t have a lot of reps in that regard,” he said. “I was a pitch too late [with sequencing] and my execution was poor so I never really gave myself a chance to learn anything, to get a foul ball or to get a mishit…[Some of] those pitches were in relatively good areas, but the problem is that they’re ready for those pitches and those situations.”

The Yankees (52-29) have lost seven of their last 10 games and will look to snap their two-game losing streak when they take on the Mets on Wednesday night at Citi Field.

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