Luis Gil, Yankees punished by Orioles during brutal rout in Bronx

Luis Gil had been a Yankees revelation since he struck out eight Phillies in a dominant 3 2⁄3 -inning spring training outing.

The performance was the jumping-off point for the rookie who, in Aaron Boone’s words, “kicked down the door” for a rotation spot, leading to what had been a remarkable opening two-plus months that had Gil being discussed as a candidate to start next month’s All-Star Game in Arlington, Texas.

That talk, for one afternoon, came to a halt.

Gil had by far the worst outing of his young career, missing few barrels over 1 1⁄3 forgettable innings in a 17-5 blowout loss to the Orioles on a sweltering 90-degree Thursday afternoon at the Stadium.

“Obviously, he’s in the midst of a great year, and this doesn’t change that,” Boone said. “This is one bump in the road and, frankly, it’s always an opportunity to grow and learn from . . . that little bit of a reminder sometimes, especially when you’re on top of your game, this game will get you, and it’s a humbling game. He’ll learn from this.”

Gil, who allowed two hits over 6 1⁄3 scoreless innings in a 2-0 victory at Baltimore May 1, did not come close to approaching that level of success Thursday. The 26-year-old righthander allowed seven runs and eight hits — both season highs — in falling to 9-2, 2.77. Gil entered the day having allowed a combined seven runs in his previous nine starts.

“They have a really good lineup,” Gil said through his interpreter. “There’s good days and bad days out there, and today was definitely not my best. I felt like I let the team down today.”

The Yankees (51-26), in dropping two of three to the Orioles (49-25) and losing for the fifth time in their last seven games overall, saw their AL East lead trimmed to a half-game. The Yankees have lost five of seven games so far against the defending East champion Orioles, who came into the year prohibitive favorites to repeat.

“They’re a good ballclub, we saw that last year,” Aaron Judge said. “They’ve got some great young players, they play hard, play fast. It’s fun competing against those guys. They bring it every single day. Even like today, they came out swinging early on.”

Judge, who left Tuesday night’s game after getting hit on his left hand by a pitch and did not play Wednesday, returned Thursday and went 2-for-3, including his MLB-leading 27th homer, and an RBI single.

“Still some swelling, some soreness and stuff like that, especially on foul balls,” Judge said of his hand. “But if you square it up, it feels pretty good.”

The Yankees, outhit 19-6, did not distinguish themselves in the field as they committed three errors. Second baseman Gleyber Torres, who had one of them, left midgame with tightness in his right groin.

“Don’t expect it to be anything major,” Boone said.

It was essentially garbage time from the fifth on, the game ending with catcher Jose Trevino making his second pitching appearance of the season (he allowed a run).

The Orioles scored in eight of the nine innings, including putting up crooked numbers in four of those. Ryan O’Hearn’s RBI single in the first made it 1-0 and Baltimore sent 12 to the plate in a six-run second that jettisoned Gil from the game. Cedric Mullins’ two-run homer got the Orioles going in the inning and Ryan Mountcastle’s bases-clearing double really started the onslaught.

Baltimore feasted on Gil’s high-90s fastball, a pitch that had been among the biggest contributors to his success.

Through the top of the fifth, the Orioles were outhitting the Yankees 12-3 and led 11-3. In addition to Judge’s homer, Torres also homered, his seventh blast of the season in the second making it 7-1.

The Orioles homered three times — one each from Mullins, Anthony Santander and Austin Hays. AL MVP candidate Gunnar Henderson had three hits, as did Adley Rutschman and Mountcastle. The latter added four RBIs, as did O’Hearn.

“They came out really aggressive to the fastball in that first inning, kind of took it away, got him out of the zone a little bit, and then he made some mistakes in the heart of the plate with kind of everything,” Boone said of Gil. “They had a plan to get after the fastball, took it away, and obviously just not his day.”