Yankees unravel in 12th inning, fall to Guardians after Luis Gil exits with lower back tightness

A Yankees’ rotation that has recently shown signs of righting itself took a blow Tuesday night.

It is not clear just how significant it is.

The Yankees, who got back-to-back homers in the first inning by Juan Soto (No. 35) and Aaron Judge (No. 45) but not much else offensively, lost, 9-5, to the Guardians in 12 innings.

That disappointing result to a degree was overshadowed by the fourth inning when Luis Gil, one of the club’s hottest pitchers of late, left the game with tightness in his lower back.

“Never felt anything like that,” Gil, who will be re-evaluated by doctors on Wednesday, said through his interpreter. “You’re a little worried because you come out of the game because you’re feeling something that’s not right.”

Gil, 3-2 with a 2.81 ERA in his previous six starts and 12-6, 3.39 this season, said he started feeling tightness in the third inning.

“I tried to work through it, but at some point you just have to call the trainers because you don’t want to force the issue and make it worse,” Gil said.

The Yankees (73-53), who fell one-half game behind the Orioles in the AL East, went 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position and stranded 12, the still-struggling DJ LeMahieu emblematic of much of that futility, going 0-for-5 and having a rough night in the field, as well.

“Tough night for DJ,” Aaron Boone said of the veteran, now hitting .189 with a .512 OPS this season. “It’s [LeMahieu’s season] been tough, no question.”

Judge’s two-run double in the bottom of the 12th made it 9-5.

The AL Central-leading Guardians (73-52) batted around in the top of the 12th, erupting for six runs against lefty Tim Mayza, elevated to the big-league roster over the weekend in Detroit, and Michael Tonkin. Lane Thomas’ RBI double off Mayza snapped a 3-3 tie and David Fry’s three-run triple later in the inning off Tonkin blew it open.

The Guardians had their own issues with runners on base, going 7-for-24 with RISP and stranding an astounding 20.

Before the 12th, it had been a stellar bullpen night for the Yankees, who used all eight of their relievers. Jake Cousins stranded two runners in the top of the 11th after getting out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the 10th.

Clay Holmes, whom Boone before the game said was no longer his closer in all circumstances, struck out three and walked a batter in a dominant ninth.

The Yankees nearly took the lead in the eighth when pinch hitter Austin Wells doubled to left-center but Trent Grisham, pinch running at first for Giancarlo Stanton, who had walked, hesitated rounding third and was thrown out on a bang-bang play at the plate.

“Coming around third I wasn’t sure if he was sending me, I thought he was maybe holding me up, and then saw the arm late,” Grisham said of third base coach Luis Rojas. “Got a little hesitation around third.”

The Yankees had runners at first and third with one out in the 10th against Cleveland’s All-World closer Emmanuel Clase, but Grisham fouled to first and Alex Verdugo grounded out.

“Just part of the game,” Soto said of the Yankees’ difficulties with runners on, an on-again-off-again issue all season that has been pronounced of late as the team has lost seven of its last 12. “They have a really good pitching staff coming out of the bullpen and did a pretty good job of setting us down.”

The 26-year-old Gil struggled with his command before the injury, walking six over four-plus innings in which he allowed three runs and three hits. Gil struck out three.

The Yankees trailed 3-2 when Gil departed, with Brayan Rocchio leading off the fourth with a homer to right to give the Guardians the lead. The Yankees tied it in the bottom half on a double to left-center by slumping shortstop Anthony Volpe, who had two hits.

In many ways, the Yankees have spent the season holding their breath regarding Gil, whose electric final three weeks of the spring won him the fifth-starter job.

But Gil, at 124 2/3 innings this season, had not started a big-league game in nearly two years after Tommy John surgery early in the 2022 season, his previous innings high at any level was the 96 he threw in the minors in 2019.

“We’ll see,” Boone said of his level of concern. “It didn’t seem [initially] too serious, but we’ve got to see what we’ve got.”