NEW YORK — Rookie Luis Gil battled command issues in cool conditions but pitched five scoreless innings of two-hit ball, Aaron Judge reached base three times and hit an RBI single, and the surging New York Yankees beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-2 in the first game of a doubleheader on Wednesday.
Pitching in short sleeves in 65-degree conditions after pitching in 86-degree heat last week in Philadelphia, Gil (12-5) only allowed singles to Anthony Rendon and Jo Adell in the second inning and earned his third straight win.
“Definitely difficult out there today,” Gil said through a translator. “I’m trying to locate all my pitches, the fastball, the slider and the changeup but you have to understand it happens and in the moment you got to find it within you.”
Gil walked five but the Angels were 1 for 9 with runners on base against him. The right-hander turned in his fifth scoreless outing this season and first since June 4 against the Minnesota Twins.
Gil struck out six and threw a career-high 107 pitches, three more than his previous high set June 14 at Boston. Gil’s only 1-2-3 inning was the fifth and he clapped his hands into his glove after Willie Calhoun flew out to end the inning.
“The fifth inning was probably his best inning,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I feel like he got into a little bit of a rhythm there.”
“Very exciting moment right there,” Gil said of his final inning. “I think it was important for me to complete that inning, give our team the best shot possible and it’s excitement.”
It also was his major league-leading 14th start allowing one run or fewer this season. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Gil’s 14 starts of allowing one run or fewer are tied with Stan Bahnsen (1968) for the second-most by a rookie in Yankees history.
After being intentionally walked three times for the first time in his career Sunday against the Toronto Blue Jays, Judge walked and scored in New York’s two-run first inning, singled in the third and again in the fourth off José Marte for his MLB-best 104th RBI.
“We tried to pitch around him,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “That ball he hit for the base hit, that was supposed to be the ball up and away and see if he chased. We wasn’t going to give him nothing to hit and Marte brought a ball back over the plate and that big boy didn’t miss it.”
Judge hit a 373-foot fly ball in the sixth and was intentionally walked for the 12th time this season with nobody on and two outs in the eighth.
Judge reached base at least four times for the third straight game, joining Alfonso Soriano and Derek Jeter as the third Yankee since 1989 to achieve the feat.
Austin Wells had an RBI single off Angels rookie starter Davis Daniel (1-3) in the first after Judge drew his MLB-best 93rd walk. Anthony Volpe added an RBI double in the second and Oswaldo Cabrera homered in the third as the Yankees won for the eighth time in nine games.
Alex Verdugo had an RBI double before Judge singled him home in the fourth.
Zach Neto hit a two-run homer for the Angels in the seventh off Jake Cousins. New York’s Clay Holmes pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 24th save in 33 chances.
Daniel allowed five runs and seven hits in 3 1/3 innings.
WEB GEM
In the fourth, Neto made an over the shoulder catch on Cabrera. Cabrera hit a soft pop up that carried into center field and Neto completed the off-balance play while falling to the ground.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Angels: 3B Luis Rengifo (right wrist inflammation) underwent season-ending wrist surgery on Tuesday and is expected to be ready for spring training.
UP NEXT:
Los Angeles RHP Carson Fulmer (0-2, 3.69 ERA) opposes New York rookie Will Warren (0-0, 6.75) in the second game.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
