PHOENIX — It was noticeable in the middle of spring training when Aaron Boone opted to drive 16 miles to Clearwater, Fla., to manage a Yankees’ split-squad game against the Phillies instead of working the home game in Tampa against the Orioles.
You never see that.
Almost never.
“I went to see the Bull,” Boone said on March 11.
Greg “the Bull” Luzinski, a left fielder on the Phillies’ 1980 World Series title team with Aaron’s father Bob Boone, indeed was there for the Grapefruit League game. Another reason Boone made the trip, maybe the biggest, was he wanted to see pitching prospect Clayton Beeter face the Phillies’ regulars.
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Beeter added to his case for an Opening Day roster spot working four scoreless innings with four strikeouts in the start.
Luis Gil, who had been optioned a week earlier because the Yankees were being careful in his first full season back from May 2022 Tommy John surgery, rejoined the Yankees for the day and got into the game.
Gil was better. Actually, Boone was blown away watching Gil throws high-90s fastballs, unhittable sliders and show off his new changeup working 3 2/3 scoreless innings of relief while allowing one hit, striking out eight and walking one.
That’s the day that Gil put himself back on the radar to open the season in the big leagues. Then when Gil made the most out of two more spring outings with the big club and the Yankees’ No. 1 starter was lost for a couple months with an elbow injury, the hard-throwing Dominican was the choice to fill Gerrit Cole’s spot in the season-opening rotation.
After the Yankees started the season with four wins in four games in Houston, Gil’s first turn came up Monday night against the 2022 National League champs and once again he was very impressive.
In his first big-league outing in almost two years, Gil allowed just one hit and one run over 4 2/3 innings with six punchouts and three walks in a 5-2 Yankees win that gave them their first 5-0 start since they won their first six in 1992.
With the Yankees up four runs, Gil was one out away from qualifying for his second career win when he was removed in the fifth inning with two outs and nobody out.
The Yankees set a strict pitch count of 85 for Gil and he was up to 84 (52 strikes, 32 balls).
“He was at his count,” Boone said. “Luis is certainly not someone I’m going to mess with as we build him up. I hated the fact that it was 4 2/3 and he was in a good spot to win, but his health and getting built properly is more important.”
Gil says he wasn’t bummed about not getting a win.
“No, not at all,” Gil said. “Yeah, I wanted to pitch. Let’s be clear about that. At the same time, I understand that there’s a set amount of pitches that I’m under. Probably next outing I’ll have more pitches.”
Luke Weaver replaced Gil, allowed one run over 2 1/3 innings and was awarded the victory on a night also highlighted by second-year shortstop Anthony Volpe’s first career four-hit game
Volpe returned after missing Sunday’s game with an upset stomach and was 4-for-4 with two doubles and RBI single.
“Impressive,” Boone said of Volpe, who is hitting.571 in three games after batting .209 as a rookie.
With Weaver on and the Yankees up four runs, the Diamondbacks loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh on a triple, fielding error by Anthony Rizzo and hit by pitch, but it led to only one run, a sacrifice fly.
Gil started his outing by walking Diamondbacks leadoff hitter Ketel Marte on nine pitches, but he retired the next six hitters, three by strikeouts.
The Diamondbacks’ only hit off Gil was a leadoff single in the fourth by Jake McCarthy. Gil promptly walked No.9 hitter Geraldo Perdomo and threw a wild pitch to put two runners in scoring position with nobody out, but the only damage was Marte’s sacrifice fly.
Gil showed some emotion walking off the mound after he struck out Lourdes Gurriel Jr., with a runner on third to end the inning with the Yankees ahead 5-1.
That spring outing in Clearwater is what launched Gil’s surprising run to the Opening Day rotation.
“He started really flashing a lot in the Philly start,” Boone said. “We went over to Clearwater, and it was a dominant start, He dominated with the fastball, but within there was a changeup that really set things up for him. And I would include the slider in there, too. But the changeup, having the ability to land that pitch and being unpredictable with it really helps that fastball play.”
The Yankees took a 2-0 lead in the third on an RBI single by Oswaldo Cabrera and run-scoring double by Gleyber Torres, then made it 5-0 in the third while knocking out Diamondbacks starter Ryne Nelson.
NOTABLES
-- This is the fourth time the Yankees have started a season with at least five consecutives. They were 7-0 in 1933, 6-0 in in 1992 and 5-0 in 1988.
-- Juan Soto received named American League Player of the Week honors, then had his first hitless game as a Yankee going 0-for-3 with two walks and strikeout. His walks increased his two-season, consecutive on-base streak to an MLB high 38 games.
-- Giancarlo Stanton looked bad again going 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts. In three games, he’s batting .176 with one homer, one RBI and eight Ks in 17 at-bats.
-- Aaron Judge, 1-for-5 with a single on Monday, has no homers in his first five games for the second time in three years. He finished with an AL record 62 in 2022.
LOOKING AHEAD
Tuesday: Yankees at Diamondbacks, 9:40 p.m., EST, YES. LHP Nestor Cortes (0-0, 7.20) vs. RHP Zac Gallen (1-0, 1.80).
Wednesday: Yankees at Diamondbacks, 3:40 p.m., EST, YES. LHP Carlos Rodon (0-0, 2.08) vs. RHP Merrill Kelly (1-0, 1.35).
Thursday: Off day.
Friday: Blue Jays at Yankees, 1:05 p.m., EST., YES. TBA vs. RHP Marcus Stroman (1-0, 0.00).
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Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com.