Gerrit Cole hoping to turn it around against his old team on Saturday

HOUSTON — Gerrit Cole is well aware of the narrative and equally aware that there's only one way to change it. Cole will enter Saturday night's start against the Astros with a more-than-respectable 8-4 record and 2.91 ERA this season. But he is 2-2 with a 5.24 ERA in his last six starts, a stretch that began at exactly the same time that word came down that MLB had decided to crack down on the use of illicit sticky substances applied to baseballs by pitchers.