Yankees don't seem inclined to skip starts for Luis Gil
Yankees starting pitcher Luis Gil watches the two-run home run by Baltimore Orioles' Cedric Mullins during the second inning at Yankee Stadium on Thursday, June 20, 2024. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Gerrit Cole will make his second start of the season on Tuesday night against the Mets at Citi Field, manager Aaron Boone said on Saturday.
Luis Gil, coming off his worst start of the season, will start on Wednesday night.
“Probably,” Boone said.
The slight hedge from Boone is because the Yankees have a day off on Monday and can play around with the rotation if they wish. In fact, the Yankees are off the next three Mondays before the All-Star break, so they could use those days to ease the burden on Gil in terms of innings if they choose.
For example, Carlos Rodon could start Wednesday on normal rest to give Gil a breather.
Gil, as has been noted many times, has never thrown more than 108 2/3 innings in a season. Last year, he threw a total of four coming off Tommy John surgery.
This year, in a stunning first half that has the 26-year-old rookie looking at a potential spot on the American League All-Star team, he has thrown 81 1/3 innings.
Only 1 1/3 of them came on Thursday against Baltimore as Gil gave up seven runs in a 17-5 Yankees loss. His record fell to 9-2, his ERA jumped from an AL-low 2.02 to 2.77, and legitimate questions were asked about whether he is hitting a wall.
On Saturday, Boone said the Yankees are not considering having Gil skip a start.
“Skipping, no,” he said. “Some consideration of do we bump [Gil back] an extra day there. But we'll keep talking about that . . . It’s something we're looking at but not something we're absolutely doing yet.”
Gil, after his last outing, said through an interpreter: “It’s definitely a learning experience. Tomorrow I’ll sit down calmly, I’ll go over videos and everything I need to look at so that I can make the necessary adjustments and be ready for the next one.”
Boone said the ''calmly looking at video of the most recent outing'' is something Yankees pitchers do regularly, whether they pitch well or poorly.
“It's not a lot different than when he does really well,” Boone said. “The pitching group does a great job of reviewing a couple days after and kind of going through their starts. What we want to work on in between. What went well, where did we struggle, where can we improve. That doesn't really change that much off a tough outing or when you're dominant.”
Gil has been dominant for most of the season, which the Yankees really needed with Cole on the shelf with elbow inflammation. But Gil is not a finished product, mostly because he has been injured for most of his time as a professional since signing with the Twins in 2015.
The Yankees believe he still has a lot to learn, including when he takes his lumps.
“I feel like it was one of those things again, on a bigger scale, [that was focused on] because it's the first time he's really struggled overall and had a rough performance,” Boone said. “He's had moments in games that he's really learned and grown from throughout the year, and I think this on a bigger level is another one of those opportunities.”
Gleyber day. Verdugo’s, too. Not DJ’s. Gleyber Torres returned to the lineup after leaving Thursday’s game with right groin tightness and sitting out on Friday. Boone said he made out Saturday’s lineup on Friday night and didn’t even check with Torres before Saturday's game to see if he was OK to play . . . Alex Verdugo, who sat out on Friday against lefthander Chris Sale, was back in the lineup, too. Boone had said that Verdugo was “a little banged up after running into the wall the other night” while making a running catch of Anthony Santander's drive in the ninth inning and probably preventing three runs from scoring . . . DJ LeMahieu was not in the lineup. Since returning from the injured list, LeMahieu is 12-for-62 (.194). All 12 hits were singles.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.