Luis Gil was terrific for the Yankees down the stretch.
The right-hander threw well enough that he earned himself the ALDS Game 1 start.
Things, however, did not quite go as planned on Saturday afternoon.
Gil was knocked out of the game by the high-powered Blue Jays over just 2.2 innings of work, allowing two runs on four hits (two homers) in what was his shortest outing of the season.
He gave up a two out solo shot to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the bottom of the first, and then Alejandro Kirk made him pay for another mistake with a no-doubt solo blast of his own leading off the second.
The righty came back out for the bottom of the third, but was pulled after giving up a two out single to Guerrero.
“They were hunting the top of the zone and put some good swings on him,” Aaron Boone said. “You live with the two solo shots, we were still in the game there and he did enough, we felt like we could piece it together from there.”
As things played out, though, the Yanks were unable to piece this one together.
The offense wasted a golden opportunity with Toronto’s Kevin Gausman on the ropes in the sixth, as Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton struck out with the bases loaded in a close ballgame.
The Jays offense was sure to make them pay for that an inning later, as they jumped all over the struggling Luke Weaver to score four more times in the seventh, officially putting this one away and securing the series advantage.
“Not the result we wanted,” Gil said through a translator. “You want to execute your pitches against this lineup, but at the same time they’re big-league hitters, they’re there to swing the bat and they were able to do that tonight — but I have full confidence in my teammates and I know we’re going to come back strong tomorrow.”
