Two of the three hits that Cole, 35, surrendered included an RBI double and a two-run home run, while also posting one walk with three strikeouts in his start.
Despite the runs, he threw 36 of his 44 pitches for strikes.
The 2023 Cy Young winner is recovering from Tommy John surgery after missing all of 2025. He had a couple of one-inning outings during Spring Training and simulated innings against batters from the Yankees' High-A team, the Hudson Valley Renegades, on Sunday.
Rehab assignments are 30 days for pitchers, with a 10-day extension, compared to batters recovering from injuries, who are given 20 days for their rehab stint.
So the Yankees expect Cole to be ready around the start of June as they want to properly build up his return to the starting rotation.
Cole joined the Yankees in 2020 and has continued to be one of the best pitchers in baseball. In 2022, Cole led all pitchers with 33 starts and 257 strikeouts.
Come the following year, he won his second ERA title after posting the American League with a 2.63 and 209 innings pitched, along with a league-leading two complete game shutouts, 7.4 WAR (wins above replacement), and winning percentage after posting a 15-4 record.
New York (11-9) currently boasts the eighth-best starting rotation ERA (3.40), which has the fifth-most strikeouts (108) heading into April 17th's slate of games.
