ROCHESTER, N.Y. – For the second straight year, a key member of the New York Yankees took the mound for a rehab assignment, pitching against the Rochester Red Wings for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.
Last season, it was perennial Cy Young Award candidate and All-Star Gerrit Cole. On Wednesday, it was 2024 American League Rookie of the Year Luis Gil, who broke out with a season that saw him make 29 starts and 151.2 innings, going 15-7 with a 3.50 ERA while striking out 171. Now, he was working his way back from a high-grade lat strain suffered during spring training.
The crowd this year was smaller: less forewarning, Gil’s shorter resume, an unusual 6:05 P.M. start time, and a lack of some other promotions (such as fireworks) kept attendance at 7,754 —several thousand less than the 13,605 that packed Innovative Field on Friday, June 14, 2024. Still, excitement was high for the many Yankee fans in the region ahead of the start, and the pre-game line outside of the stadium had plenty of pinstriped jerseys in it, with one small group entirely clad in the No. 99 jersey of Aaron Judge. One could hardly blame them- a perfect storm of events has to take place for the Yankees to send a pitcher on a rehab assignment on the road, as they generally try to keep such starts at their affiliates’ home fields. The scheduling this year once again worked in the Red Wings’ favor, however, with both of the Yankees’ top two affiliates on the road and the Yankees themselves playing in Toronto.
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The fans who came to see Gil would ultimately see a mixed bag performance from the 27-year-old Dominican, who ended his game in the fourth inning after pitching 3.1 innings, allowing four hits, five earned runs, three walks, and a home run. He struck out four and ended up with a no-decision. He threw exactly 67 pitches (44 for strikes), getting removed in the middle of an at-bat with a 3-2 count against Wings catcher Francisco Mejia. His replacement, Kervin Castro, threw ball four to Mejia, who later came around to score. Despite not actually throwing the final pitch, the walk was charged to Gil, as was the run once Mejia came around to score.
Gil’s fastball never reached his average of 96.6 MPH that he had last season, topping out at 96.2 MPH but averaging 94.4 MPH. Whether this was a result of his injury recovery or merely a case of taking it easy in a non-MLB game is unknown, although his slider and changeup also averaged below their speed from 2024.
Previously, Gil was 1-1 with a 1.64 ERA (two runs, three hits, one home run, 18 strikeouts, two walks) against the Red Wings all-time before Wednesday’s start, but those statistics took a hit immediately thanks to Red Wings center fielder Robert Hassell III. The Nationals’ No. 10 prospect fouled off the first two pitches, but then put good wood on a 94.8 MPH fastball and smacked it 381 feet to right for a leadoff home run near the REMAX pavilion to make the score 4-1 for Scranton.
The right-hander settled down after that, putting down six of the next seven he faced (second baseman Jose Tena drew a first-inning walk), including striking out Andres Chaparro and Nick Schnell in sequence to end the first and setting down Andrew Pinckney, Trey Lipscomb, and Mejia 1-2-3 in the second.
The Red Wings got to Gil in the third, with Nasim Nunez leading off with a single before Hassell III reached on a force-out before stealing second. Yohandy Morales walked, and then Tena loaded the bases with an infield single. Chaparro then hit a sacrifice fly to score Hassell and cut Scranton’s lead to 4-2, bringing up Schnell. The right-fielder smacked the first pitch he saw towards his opposite number, Bryan De La Cruz, who reached but missed at the line drive that landed for a double that brought home Morales and Tena to tie it at four.
Ultimately, Gil’s night ended abruptly and oddly. After getting Lipscomb to fly out to start the inning, Gil worked Mejia to a 3-2 count, at which point Scranton manager Shelley Duncan came out of the dugout and signaled for a pitching change. Just like that, Gil exited to a round of applause from some of the fans in attendance, ending his game.
Gil was unavailable for comment after his outing. Still, previous reports suggested that this would be his final rehab start before rejoining the Yankees, who trail the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East race.
For more on the Red Wings/RailRiders game from Wednesday, read Jon Skuza’s article here.
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