BOSTON — The results went up and the stuff went down on a night Luis Gil made a case he should not go anywhere.
The right-hander was excellent in the box score — 6 ¹/₃ scoreless innings in which he let up just two hits and three walks — and entirely hittable, suggesting such outings might not be repeatable.
And the Yankees — who expect to be welcoming Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón back to the rotation in the coming weeks and need to find a pair of vacancies — are on the lookout for which starters will prove sustainably strong.
An odd Tuesday night for Gil was nonetheless a successful one, leading the way to a 4-0 shutout of the Red Sox while giving the Yankees one more thing to think about within a rotation that has plenty of competition.
“Definitely a good outing,” Gil said through interpreter Marlon Abreu. “I think the key tonight was just mixing pitches very well.”
Gil pitched around loud contact, with seven balls struck at least 98 mph against him.
Red Sox batters swung 29 times against him and missed just four.
The Yankees have been waiting for the high-90s heat that Gil displayed during his Rookie of the Year season in 2024 to return, and it has not: Tuesday, a frigid night at Fenway Park in which hoods and blankets were out — “Cold night for sure,” Gil said — his velocity was down across the board, including a four-seam fastball that averaged 96.6 mph in ’24, had averaged 95.4 mph in his first two starts this year and against Boston dipped to 93.6 mph.
But he effectively pitched to contact with good command while lowering his ERA to 4.11.
He did not record a strikeout after the second inning but needed seven pitches to get through the fourth. In the sixth he needed just five, including a Roman Anthony bullet sent right to José Caballero. He left with one out in the seventh after walking two, but Brent Headrick escaped the danger.
Gil “pitched,” manager Aaron Boone said distinguishing the effort from “threw.” “I thought his secondary was pretty good to go along with his fastball. Pitched well with the lead. … To get into the seventh inning on a cold night here and get us off to a good start in this series, that was big.”
Cole is set to make his second rehab start and Carlos Rodón his first later this week. Will Warren, ostensibly the No. 5 starter, owns a 2.49 ERA through five starts. Ryan Weathers’ mark is 3.18, and the lefty is coming off a scoreless outing in which he pitched 7 ¹/₃ innings and struck out eight.
Gil said he is “not at all” thinking about the coming rotation crunch.
“My focus is to execute pitches, get strikes out there and let [the Yankees] figure it out,” said Gil, who probably will have to improve upon a night in which he recorded 19 outs and did not allow a run.
