Luis Gil’s brilliance continues as Yankees secure 4-game split against Mariners
The Luis Gil hype train kept on chugging along Thursday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
The right-hander was once again brilliant in the Bombers’ 5-0 win over the Mariners to salvage a four-game split. Gil hurled 6.1 shutout innings racking up eight strikeouts and allowing just one hit following up his record-setting 14-strikeout performance with another stellar outing. The 25-year-old exited the game in the seventh to a standing ovation from the Bronx crowd.
“He’s been one of the best pitchers in the league,” said Aaron Boone. “He just continues to get better and better. Really efficient for five innings and when he did get in some three-ball counts he made pitches. And he’s just got so many weapons that can beat you.
“Maybe his slider is his third pitch but you have to respect so much the fastball and even his changeup it gets him some outs too. You see guys miss-hit balls that they probably think they’re going to be on.”
The flamethrower lowered his season ERA to a stifling 2.11 and continues to make a resounding case to remain in the rotation once Gerrit Cole returns. With Gil’s performance, it marked the 11th straight game a Yankee starter has thrown at least five innings while giving up two runs or fewer marking a franchise record.
There wasn’t much offense required in this one, but the Yanks turned to a combination that has earned them plenty of success in recent years.
Giancarlo Stanton opened up the scoring in the bottom of the second with a solo bomb to Monument Park off Mariners’ ace Luis Castillo for his 12th homer of the season. His co-bopper — Aaron Judge — visited the Yankees’ bullpen in right-center for a solo shot of his own to make it a 2-0 game.
Judge’s 15th homer of the season plus a double and two walks on the afternoon raised his season OPS to 1.027. The Bombers are now 36-4 in games that Stanton and Judge both homer in since the duo teamed up in 2018. However, The captain wasn’t entirely satisfied with what he saw in this homestand.
“We split a series with the Mariners, a good time, had a great series against the White Sox. There’s a lot of room for improvement,” said Judge. “A couple of things didn’t go our way this series so we’ll tighten some things up.
“The thing I love about this team is it doesn’t matter the situation, who we’re playing, if we’re down in the game or up in the game, everybody’s always on top of their game ready to compete.”
Castillo has typically given the Yankees plenty of trouble over the years as he owned a career 2.84 ERA against the Yanks entering Thursday. While the right-hander bent but didn’t break, the Bombers managed competitive at-bats up and down the lineup.
The 31-year-old tossed five innings allowing two runs on seven hits and three walks. Boone’s squad had plenty of traffic but could not break through against the veteran.
The Yanks added some insurance when Anthony Volpe led off the bottom of the seventh with a double before stealing third base for his 10th of the season. Juan Soto knocked the shortstop in with an RBI single to right. Judge smoked a 107.6 mph double off the left field wall to set up second and third for Alex Verdugo who lofted a sac-fly to center field. Judge advanced to third on a wild pitch and was knocked in by Anthony Rizzo with another sac-fly to center topping off a three-run seventh to make it a 5-0 game.
Victor Gonzalez relieved Gil in the seventh inning and tossed a scoreless inning before handing the ball off to Nick Burdi to finish off the eighth. Burdi worked into a bases-loaded jam promoting Boone to call on closer Clay Holmes who worked out of the jam and finished the job in the ninth. The Yankees’ arms surrendered just three total hits on the afternoon — two of which came in the ninth inning.
The Yankees will head out West to begin a three-game series with the San Diego Padres on Friday. It will be Soto’s return to Petco Park after the blockbuster trade that send the superstar to the Yanks this past winter.
“We’re expecting to go out there and compete on the West Coast against some great teams and we’ll see what happens,” Judge said.
Carlos Rodon will take the ball against Yu Darvish at 9:40 p.m.
