Luis Gil outduels Corbin Burnes as Yankees shut out Orioles

BALTIMORE – Luis Gil rediscovered the electric stuff from the spring that allowed him to, in Aaron Boone’s words last month, “kick the door down” in becoming the surprise winner in the Yankees’ fifth starter competition.

He did so on a night the Yankees desperately needed it.

Matched against one of the sport’s best pitchers Wednesday night, as well as one of the game’s premiere lineups, Gil outpitched the Orioles’ Corbin Burnes in a 2-0 victory in front of 24,180 at Camden Yards.

“I mean, he’s got some poison coming out there at you,” Boone said with a smile afterward.

Gil, coming off his worst start of the season Friday night in Milwaukee when he allowed five runs and seven hits over five innings, threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings against the American League’s top offense, his fastball-slider-changeup repertoire running at peak efficiency.

Oswaldo Cabrera, whose rightfield-line-hugging two-run homer in the fifth off Burnes accounted for the game’s runs, said he expected excellence from Gil (2-1, 3.19) as soon as he saw the 25-year-old get on the team bus for the short ride to the ballpark from the team hotel.

“I knew this day would be special for him because he was so (focused), he was so serious the moment I saw him on the bus,” Cabrera said. “He’s the type of Dominican guy, funny guy, happy all the time, but when I stepped on the bus and I see that guy just concentrating, in my mind I was like, ‘Watch out, this guy’s going to do great things today.’”

Gil, backed by the homer from the previously slumping Cabrera, did, allowing two hits and a walk, striking out five.

“Pitch execution is really important, (especially against) a team with their lineup, so that was the main focus,” Gil said through his interpreter. “Focus on executing and keep repeating it.”

Gil, though respectful of an Orioles offense that entered the night ranked at the top of multiple offensive categories in the AL – including runs (157) and homers (45) – wasn’t preoccupied with those thoughts. Or with facing Burnes, who came in 3-0 with a 2.55 ERA.

“It doesn’t matter who you’re facing, really,” Gil said. “Once you’re locked in and you’re concentrating on what you want to do, that’s really it. The level of concentration for me has to be high and that’s really what I focus on.”

Clay Holmes, brought in with two on and one out in the eighth, emerged from the bullpen firing pure nastiness with his sinker-slider combo, striking out the last two batters of the inning.

Boone made the unusual move – made even more unusual given his reluctance to use Holmes in the 10th inning in Friday’s extra-inning loss in Milwaukee despite the closer needing just 10 pitches in the ninth and just nine pitches in his previous outing the Tuesday before – because of who was coming up: two of the Orioles top hitters, Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman.

Holmes fanned both with sliders to end non-competitive at-bats, stranding both runners.

“That’s the game right there,” Boone said, taking a page, to a degree, from former Cleveland manager Terry Francona’s playbook when it came to stud lefty Andrew Miller’s usage during his team’s run to Game 7 of the 2016 World Series. “And if the eighth inning got long and we gotta go with someone else in the ninth, so be it. We’re at the top of their order, game’s on the line with a couple guys out there (on base)…I felt like that was the game there and we’d worry about the ninth when we got there.”

Holmes was there for the ninth and though he allowed an infield single to Ryan O’Hearn leading off the inning, he promptly retired three straight for his 10th save in 11 chances. Holmes, a free agent after the season, hasn’t allowed a run in 15 games.

“I feel like I’m getting down the mound pretty well right now,” Holmes said. “I think with that, the arm feels really good and synced up. I think just being able to get down the mound good and the arm’s following it and it’s got my sinker’s in a good spot. The direction’s good and I can trust the sinker’s going to do what it’s going to do. When the sinker’s there, typically the arm’s out front, the hand’s out front and the slider comes with it, and I feel like that’s been the case so far.”