New York City, New York - The New York Yankees were able to outlast the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Monday night, thanks to a stellar performance from the return of their ace from the Covid-19 stricken list.

Gerrit Cole (30) was back on the mound for the Yankees as they beat the Angels 2-1 at home, for their third straight win.

Cole was making his first start for New York since having to sit out of action after testing positive for Covid-19 two weeks ago. The MLB standard protocol requires a positive-testing player to spend 10 days in quarantine.

At the time, he was yet another star player on the team who was reported to have contracted the virus, and newcomer Anthony Rizzo would also test positive a week later.

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As for Monday’s game, Cole was sharp on the mound throwing through 5 2/3 innings with nine strikeouts, and only giving up one run which was a homer to the Angels’ Justin Upton in the first inning. He then shut down the Angels, keeping them scoreless during the rest of his time on the mound for his eleventh win of the season.

Joey Gallo, who came over in a July trade with the Rangers, hit a two-run shot in the first to give the Bronx Bombers the only runs they needed to win. Aaron Judge hit the baseball well for NY, going 2-for-3 and walking once.

Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani was at the plate four times with no hits to show for it. He struck out twice in the game, one of which was to Cole.

On Tuesday, the Yankees start a three-game set against their legendary rivals, the Boston Red Sox, while the Angels head to Detroit for three games of their own against the Tigers.