After Opening Day was rained out on Thursday, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox began their respective seasons on Friday with an afternoon game in the Bronx. Gerrit Cole got the call, but it wasn’t exactly a banner outing for the Yankees ace.

The hard-throwing righty tossed just four innings while giving up three earned runs to the Red Sox, who have hit him well in recent years. So why exactly did Cole struggle in the first inning? His routine was messed up because of the pre-game festivities.

Via Bryan Hoch:

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While four minutes might not seem like a big deal, it is in terms of keeping warm ahead of taking the mound. The Yankees right-hander times his warm-ups for that 1:08 PM first pitch and having to then wait around clearly threw him off. Sounds foolish, but baseball is a game of rituals.

Cole gave up all three earned in the opening inning, with Rafael Devers taking him deep before J.D. Martinez drove in Xander Bogaerts with an RBI double down the right-field line. But, the 31-year-old eventually settled in, only giving up one more hit the rest of the way.

The Yankees’ offense came alive themselves, winning 6-5 in an extra-innings thriller. Newbie Josh Donaldson hit a game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the 11th to give New York their first win of 2022.