ANAHEIM, Calif. — Before Luis Gil made his sixth and final start of the month, Aaron Boone called his May “superb.”
The right-hander might as well have told the Yankees manager to hold his beer.
Gil capped off a terrific month with yet another gem, completing eight innings for the first time in his career to lift the Yankees to a 2-1 win over the Angels on Wednesday night at Angel Stadium.
Needing an efficient 95 pitches to make it through eight innings, Gil allowed just two hits — one of them a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh — as well as two walks and one run while striking out nine.
With strong command of his high-90s fastball, he smashed his previous career high of 6 ¹/₃ innings.
“I don’t think anyone’s really surprised within the clubhouse or the organization,” said Anthony Volpe, who provided the winning run by hitting a triple and scoring on a throwing error in the seventh inning. “But the level he’s doing it [at] and the lineups he’s doing it against, I think we’re all just blown away. It pumps everyone up when you get the lineup and you see his name at the bottom of it.
“I’m friendly with a couple guys on other teams and they’ll say after the games it’s the most electric fastball they’ve ever faced.”
Clay Holmes made things interesting in the ninth, putting the first two runners on base before escaping with a pair of ground balls to keep Gil’s seventh win in check for the Yankees (38-19).
Across six starts this month — effectively serving as his coming out party after a decent April in which he posted a 4.01 ERA in five starts — Gil allowed just three runs across 38 ²/₃ innings, good for a 0.70 ERA. Along the way, he struck out 44 and walked 12 while opponents hit just .109 (14-for-129) against him.
“Am I fully 100 percent surprised? I’m not,” Gil said through an interpreter. “The reason why is it took a lot of dedication and a lot of work to get here. That’s something I really wanted to do, to put myself in the best position possible coming here. When you’re able to command pitches out there, really good things happen.”
After being optioned to minor league spring training at the beginning of March and tabbed as Gerrit Cole’s injury replacement at the end of March, Gil is making a strong case to start the MLB All-Star Game for the American League in July.
He owns a 1.99 ERA through 11 starts.
“You’d have to say beyond expectations,” said manager Aaron Boone, who was ejected in the first inning for arguing a controversial double play. “We’ve always known his talent. Coming back from Tommy John and having missed over a year of baseball, it would have been hard to predict this. But we’ve also always known about Luis’ talent. Just to see how much [more] mature and better he’s gotten, it’s a good indication of just because you’re hurt now doesn’t mean you can’t get better.”
Gil also became the 16th straight Yankees starter to pitch at least five innings and allow two or fewer runs, extending the MLB record that they broke on Tuesday night.
Alex Verdugo, who made a diving catch in the eighth inning, gave Gil a lead to work with in the top of the fourth inning, when he turned on an inside sinker and crushed it for a home run.
Volpe, who extended his hitting streak to 21 games earlier in the night, later doubled the lead with his hustle in the seventh inning.
After making a highlight-reel play at shortstop in the bottom of the sixth, diving to his right to stab a ground ball and firing to first for the out, Volpe led off the seventh with a line drive down the right-field line.
The ball rolled all the way into the corner and Volpe got on his horse, taking off for third.
He dove in safely and collided with the leg of third baseman Luis Guillorme as the relay throw bounced out of play.
After taking a few seconds to gather himself, Volpe jogged home with a smile as the crowd gave him a standing ovation, extending the Yankees’ lead to 2-0.
That run proved to be key as Logan O’Hoppe homered off Gil in the bottom of the seventh, snapping a stretch of 11 straight batters retired.
But Gil shrugged it off and got back to work to make it through the eighth.
Credit: Source link
