BALTIMORE — One way to combat the Yankees only scoring two runs?
Not giving any up.
Luis Gil made that look easy on Wednesday night, turning in the best start of his young career by shutting down the Orioles and lifting the Yankees to a 2-0 win at Camden Yards.
Gil pitched into the seventh inning for the first time in his big-league career, tossing 6 ¹/₃ scoreless innings and giving up just two singles and a walk while striking out five.
The 25-year-old right-hander outdueled former NL Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes and made Oswaldo Cabrera’s two-run home run in the fifth inning stand up.
Clay Holmes finished off the win by recording a five-out save. Ian Hamilton had started the eighth inning but gave up a walk and hit a batter before getting the first out.
Boone then called on Holmes to face the top of the order with the game on the line and he delivered by striking out Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschmann on seven pitches.
In the bottom of the ninth, Holmes allowed an infield single to lead off the inning but responded by getting a strikeout and two ground balls to record his 10th save of the year. He has not allowed an earned run across 15 innings.
The Yankees had lost in extra innings on Friday in Milwaukee, when Holmes threw a scoreless ninth inning on 10 pitches but Boone did not go back to him to protect a one-run lead in the bottom of the 10th because he did not want to use him for two innings.
But after the Yankees dropped the first two games of this series against their division rival, Boone decided to let Holmes go the extra mile on Wednesday.
The Yankees (20-12) now have a chance to split the four-game series with the Orioles (19-11) on Thursday afternoon.
Cabrera gave the Yankees their first lead of the series when he jumped on a first-pitch inside cutter and snuck it just inside the right-field foul pole for a two-run home run in the fifth inning.
Cabrera’s home run, plus Gil’s terrific outing, helped make up for an offense that otherwise struggled to muster much of a threat, finishing the night with four hits and one walk.
Gil had made his major league debut by facing the Orioles and throwing six scoreless innings on Aug. 6, 2021.
But those were the rebuilding Orioles who finished that year 52-110, not the dangerous lineup that has been one of the game’s best offenses early in the season.
