We were treated to a superb Friday night pitchers’ duel between the two starters, New York’s Luis Gil striking out seven across five scoreless innings while Baltimore’s Zach Eflin retired the first 14 batters he faced. The game zipped along with almost no offense to show until the relievers entered and starters on offense were subbed out. But a three-run eighth from the Yankees proved the difference maker as the Yankees came back late to defeat the Orioles, 3-1.
One of the most prominent storylines
for Gil when he returned from a lat injury last season and in his spring starts so far has been diminished velocity on the fastball. His four-seamer averaged 97 mph in his Rookie of the Year campaign of 2024, but has been operating about two ticks slower since returning from injury last August. Meanwhile, talk in recent days has centered around rotation plans to open the season — with four offdays in the first two weeks, the Yankees are said to be pondering a four-man rotation until possibly mid-April. With Gil having given up seven runs in three innings in his previous spring start and the Yankees affirming their commitment to Ryan Weathers as lock for the rotation to start the year, Chris Kirschner of The Athletic recently wondered whether the team would consider optioning Gil to the minors for the first couple weeks.
Perhaps Gil caught wind of this chatter, because he came out tonight against the Orioles with a focus and urgency not seen in his previous Grapefruit League starts. The four-seamer was back to 97 mph and touched 99 on more than a few occasions. More than just velocity, Kirschner also reported that Gil worked with the coaches on his release point in between starts, and it appeared to pay off with Gil finding the edges of the zone consistently with the heater.
Gil was virtually untouchable for the duration of his outing, allowing just two baserunners in five innings — a two-out double from Pete Alonso in the fourth and a one-out walk of Bryan Ramos in the fifth that was immediately erased by an inning ending double play. Gil induced 9 whiffs on 37 swings and recorded seven strikeouts, five coming against the fastball. With his five scoreless innings, Gil managed to allow two or fewer runs in five of his six Grapefruit League starts.
As dominant as Gil was, Eflin matched him stride for stride. The righty retired the first 14 batters he faced, six on strikeouts. Jazz Chisholm Jr. finally broke up the perfect effort when he sliced a two-out line drive to left center and took advantage of the center fielder’s casual throw to the cutoff man, turning on the jets as he rounded first for a hustle double.
The Yankees’ fortunes began to improve once Eflin departed with one out in the sixth. J.C. Escarra and Trent Grisham drew back-to-back walks and both advanced into scoring position on an ill-advised back pick attempt from Samuel Basallo at first. However, Aaron Judge struck out and Cody Bellinger grounded out to strand the pair in place.
After a quiet seventh and wholesale changes to both lineups, the Yankees finally broke the seal in the eighth. Facing reliever Cohen Achen, Ryan McMahon got things started with a leadoff double, coming around to score the game’s opening run on an RBI single from Oswaldo Cabrera. Jorbit Vivas followed with an automatic double to put runners on second and third with no outs. Ali Sánchez drove Cabrera home as the go-ahead run with a line-drive double to center, but Vivas was thrown out at the plate. Two batters later, Kyle West picked his teammate up with a two-bagger of his own bouncing into the stands to plate Sánchez and double the Yankees’ lead.
After pitching a scoreless eighth, Paul Blackburn came within an out of finishing off the combined shutout. However, Basallo got the Orioles on the board with a double to right to drive home Douglas Hodo III, who reached on a one-out triple. Blackburn walked the next batter to put the tying run on first, but struck out Anderson De Los Santos to end the game.
The Yankees next travel to Lakeland to face the Tigers. Cam Schlittler will pitch in his final tune-up start of spring against the Tigers’ big-money free agent signing Framber Valdez. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. EDT on Saturday with the broadcast remaining on the Gotham Sports App. And don’t forget that the Spring Breakout is tomorrow as well! Yankees prospects will square off with Atlanta’s at 6:35pm ET on YES.
