Game 1 of the ALDS started with a scare for Gerrit Cole. The Yankees ace’s very first pitch jumped 354 feet off the bat of the Royals’ Michael Massey, only to land safely in the glove of Juan Soto on the right-field warning track. Three pitches later, Bobby Witt Jr. sent a 397-foot drive into center field, but Aaron Judge caught it in stride for another loud out. The inning ended when Vinnie Pasquantino lined out to Judge. Cole escaped the 1-2-3 inning on seven pitches, but all three outs registered exit velocities exceeding 100 mph. That proved to be foreshadowing. Cole was uncharacteristically unspectacular in Saturday night’s 6-5 win over the Royals at Yankee Stadium, surrendering four runs (three earned) on seven hits over five-plus innings with four strikeouts and two walks on 80 pitches. It was an outing Cole described afterward as “a battle” and manager Aaron Boone characterized as “a grind.” “I made my fair share of mistakes, that’s for sure,” Cole said. “Need to be sharper. But they put a couple really good pitches in play, too.” Cole pointed to a 96-mph fastball he painted on the black that MJ Menendez struck for a two-run home run as an example of a tough pitch Kansas City turned into offense. But Cole acknowledged he was “looking forward to making some adjustments” after he allowed 11 batted balls with exit velocities exceeding 95 mph. It was a far cry from Cole’s typical dominance in the ALDS, a round in which he boasted a sterling 6-0 record and a 1.71 ERA in his seven starts before Saturday’s. “Look, three mistake sliders over the plate today, and the two walks,” Cole said. “We had really a few good innings, sharp pitch count, but then a couple of those innings with the sharp pitch count, they put really good swings on really good pitches and we just played good defense.” That defense picked Cole up in the second inning, when Soto threw Salvador Perez out at home on the lumbering catcher’s ill-advised attempt to score from second base on a single with no outs. “We played outstanding defense, really,” Cole said. “That was the highlight of the night for me.” In the fourth, Cole lost a 2-1 lead when Melendez lined his 363-foot home run, which would not have cleared the right-field wall in any other ballpark. The Yankees led again, 4-3, when Cole exited with a runner on first and nobody out in the sixth with Melendez due up. That baserunner ended up scoring against reliever Tim Hill after an Anthony Volpe throwing error, and the unearned run was charged to Cole, leaving him with a no-decision. “They took some really tough at-bats, and sometimes it was because they got some leverage in the count and didn’t miss their pitch,” Boone said. “But thought he battled. Goes out there for the sixth and gave us a chance to win on a night when it was a little bit of a grind for him.” Saturday marked Cole’s shortest-ever ALDS appearance, and only his second out of the eight in which he didn’t pitch at least six innings. His four strikeouts were his fewest in an ALDS outing, while the three earned runs matched his most in a start in that round of the postseason. Cole, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, went 8-5 with a 3.41 ERA in 17 starts in the regular season. He missed nearly the first three months of the season after being diagnosed during spring training with elbow inflammation and edema, and his first few starts after returning in June functioned as an extended spring training. But Cole caught fire down the stretch, pitching to a 2.25 ERA over his final 10 starts. Cole’s last two outings were his best of the year. He delivered a nine-inning, one-run gem against the Oakland A’s on Sept. 20, followed by 6.2 shutout innings against the Baltimore Orioles on Sept. 26. Because the Yankees finished with the AL’s best record and a first-round bye, Cole pitched Saturday on eight days rest. Asked if the long break affected him in Game 1, Cole replied, “I mean, no.” Cole could pitch on regular rest in Game 4 on Thursday night, if the Yankees haven’t wrapped up the best-of-five playoff series before then. And while Cole wasn’t at his best, Saturday did feature a pregame highlight for the right-hander. As he walked to the bullpen to warm up, rowdy fans in the right-field bleachers chanted Cole’s name, prompting him to wave in acknowledgement. “I don’t think I’ve ever done that in my life, but I don’t think I’ve ever had a roll call all the way out from the dugout,” Cole said. “That was really special.”