New York Yankees v Oakland Athletics / Thearon W. Henderson/GettyImages

Coming off his worst start of an abbreviated season, Yankees ace Gerrit Cole certainly had something to prove on Friday night in Oakland.

We’re talking in the small picture, though. With the playoffs fast approaching, a good start would serve to get him back on track. The “something” he had to prove had nothing to do with his legacy or cowardice, though Alex Cora, Brayan Bello and hordes of Red Sox fans who ate lead paint chips as children would’ve had you believe otherwise.

Last Saturday, of course, Cole lost to the Sox, unraveling after intentionally walking his nemesis Rafael Devers in a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation. The communication was botched; Austin Wells apparently didn’t know the plan, and Cole regretted it immediately, allowing seven runs in the next 1+ innings before departing. Devers, battling a shoulder issue, clearly should’ve been pitched to in that situation with the bases empty. Cora and Co. also still hold steadfast to the belief that Cole hit Devers on purpose in the first, which they concurrently claim is the ultimate baseball sin and also something Bello tried and failed to do to Aaron Judge. Now that’s cowardice.

Regardless, if anyone with a 617 area code had doubts about Cole’s mettle, he went nine full brilliant innings in Oakland on Friday night. Juan Soto, who was scratched from the lineup with an injured knee, gutted out a pinch-hit RBI double to extend the Yankees’ lead in extras. It was an exercise in grit, and it all happened while Boston was busy stranding two entire tea parties on base in a gutting extra-innings loss to the Minnesota Twins, who haven’t won a game since May.

You know who else was watching? Jameson Taillon, current Cub and former Cole ally in Pittsburgh and New York. He echoed exactly what every Yankee fan was feeling in the moment as Luke Weaver secured a save and gifted Cole a much-deserved W.

Former Yankees teammate Jameson Taillon sticks up for Gerrit Cole

There we GO. Social media is, of course, the land of BAD bad bad opinions, and just because Taillon’s a professional athlete doesn’t mean he doesn’t occasionally get sucked in to the madness.

Good on the right-hander for sticking up for someone who received far too much slander for a decision gone wrong — especially from a team in Boston that has no business talking about him (and, notably, lost every other game in that series).

The Yankees noticed Taillon’s defense, too, as Marcus Stroman — straight from the Oakland clubhouse at 1:00 AM eastern time — asked the Cubs righty to shout it even louder. Speak up, sir. Amplify your voice.

One bad moment does not a career make. While Cole’s inability to press the right button no matter what he chooses when Devers steps to the dish remains frustrating, he’s still an ace. He’s still got postseason pedigree. He’s still a “dawg” for fighting back from an elbow injury to find his groove again down the stretch. And he’s still got more integrity in his little finger than Cora has in his entire trash can.