Watch: Yankees ace gets sassy with Seattle manager

In the seventh inning, with Mariners 2B Jose Caballero at the plate, Cole grew visibly annoyed with Caballero's antics in (and around) the batters box between pitches. Cole responded by firing a 97 mph 0-2 fastball well over Caballero's head before eventually striking him out. 

As Cole marched off the mound he expressed his feelings to Caballero, ticking off Mariners manager Scott Servais in the process. 

"The manager had some choice words for me and started wagging his finger at me. So I wagged my fingers at him," Cole told media after the game. "That's the first time an opposing manager has ever wagged their finger at me."

When asked postgame about the pitch over his head, Caballero said (via ESPN), "He didn't like the way I was manipulating the pitch clock, but he just got excited, so that's good."

Heading into Tuesday night's game, the Yankees lost a season-long four straight games before their ace stepped up to stem the tide. 

"It's definitely nice to hand the ball to him," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said in his postgame presser. "There's definitely comfort in that, knowing we want to go out there and stop the bleeding."

Cole tossed 7.1 innings on Tuesday, allowing one run and striking out eight. It was the type of performance New York needs from him to stay afloat in the playoff race while Carlos Rodon and captain Aaron Judge work their way back from injuries. 

Despite being seven games over .500, New York is 9.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East and tied with the Angles for the final AL wild-card spot.