Cole allowed five hits and walked no batters while striking out 11 across seven innings of scoreless work Saturday against the Padres.

EDGE Analysis

In his season debut, Cole had changed his pitch mix by moving away from his two-seam fastball in favor of heavier slider usage. That continued in his start Saturday, with excellent results as he got nearly a 17% whiff rate on 24 sliders thrown. He has looked absolutely dominant in his first two starts as a member of the Astros and it appears that his change in pitch mix is here to stay, which could lead to continued strong results.