A healthy Luis Gil leaves little to be desired out of Yankees return

MIAMI — About the best thing that can be said about Luis Gil’s first start of the season is that there will be a second one.

“I felt really, really good, and that’s what’s important,” Gil said through an interpreter Sunday after giving up five runs in 3 ¹/₃ innings of a 7-3 loss to the Marlins that chased the Yankees away from south Florida as sweep victims. “If you’ve got to take something positive from an outing, today health was big, coming back being healthy. But also the movement of the pitches was there.”

Gil was pitching for the Yankees for the first time since he started Game 4 of the World Series against the Dodgers on Oct. 29 at Yankee Stadium.

The 2024 American League Rookie of the Year had a spring bullpen session cut short with tightness in his right side on Feb. 28. The next day, an MRI exam revealed a high-grade lat strain.

After four minor league rehab appearances, Gil was ready to take the ball and try to help the Yankees salvage a game in this weekend series.

He worked around a single and a walk in the first inning, but walked two more to start the second.

Troy Johnston’s double scored the tying run, Xavier Edwards drove in another run with a single and Kyle Stowers drove in Johnston with a sacrifice fly.

In the fourth inning, with the Yankees still trailing 3-1, Gil helped let the game get away. He issued his fourth walk of the afternoon to Graham Pauley and was then removed after giving up a single to Edwards. Brent Headrick came on and served up a three-run homer to Stowers.

“Obviously, a struggle,” Aaron Boone said of Gil’s outing. “Just no real command today. I thought he started to maybe get a little bit of rhythm there in the third [which he ended with two strikeouts], but then that kind of went away.

“He flashed some of his stuff. I thought he did some good things down in the zone, especially with some of their lefties. But just, you know, [he was] too inconsistent with the strike throwing.”

Gil threw 77 pitches, just short of what pitching coach Matt Blake had said was the target. Of those, 44 were strikes and 33 were balls. Gil threw a first-pitch strike to only eight of the 19 batters he faced. His 10 outs broke down to two grounders, five fly balls and three strikeouts.

“Yeah, definitely the command there didn’t help out. That wasn’t commanding the way I wanted it,” Gil said.

The 27-year-old righty understands the Yankees’ situation — in third place in the AL East and second in the AL wild-card race. They sit just 2 ¹/₂ games ahead of the Rangers, who are the first team below the cutoff, heading into the teams’ three-game set in Arlington, Texas, beginning Monday. Gil knows there isn’t time for him to ramp up slowly as he tries to find last season’s form.

“Our team is in a fight and we’re going to keep fighting to be where we want to be,” he said. “I need to make quick adjustments and start helping out this ballclub.”