Yankees demolish O’s in Luis Gil’s dominant MLB debut

Coming off a dismal loss and the news of two starting pitchers testing positive for COVID-19, the Yankees dusted themselves and enjoyed a laugher, crushing the Orioles 13-1.

A night after resembling the pre-trade deadline Yankees, the upgraded version offered a proper introduction to Yankee Stadium.

Coming off a dismal loss and the news of two starting pitchers testing positive for COVID-19, the Yankees dusted themselves and enjoyed a laugher, crushing the Orioles 13-1 on Tuesday night in The Bronx.

Led by two-hit nights from DJ LeMahieu, Anthony Rizzo, Giancarlo Stanton, Gary Sanchez and Gleyber Torres — after the entire lineup mustered just three total hits Monday — the offense exploded for a season-high in runs on 15 hits to provide Luis Gil plenty of cushion in his MLB debut.

The 23-year-old Gil, called up earlier on Tuesday to start for the COVID-19-positive Gerrit Cole, hardly needed all the support, firing six shutout innings for a strong first impression. The right-hander gave up just four singles and a walk while striking out six on 88 pitches.

The Yankees (57-49) won for the sixth time in eight games — and 16 out of 24 — including a 4-1 mark since adding a trade-deadline haul headlined by Rizzo and Joey Gallo.

Luis Gil is greeted by his teammates in the Yankees dugout.

On a day when they learned Jordan Montgomery would join Cole on the COVID-19 injured list, putting a dent in their rotation as they chase a playoff spot, the Yankees got nine innings from a trio of pitchers who were still in Triple-A on Monday night. Stephen Ridings and Brody Koerner joined Gil in making their MLB debuts Tuesday, with Ridings striking out three and Koerner tossing two innings to close out the win.

The Yankees gave Gil a lead to work with in the second inning. After Sanchez singled with two outs, he scored from first on a double to the gap by Torres.

Gil responded with a quick third inning before the Yankees piled on with five runs in the bottom of the frame.

Greg Allen got the rally started when he was hit by a pitch and came around to score on LeMahieu’s double to the gap. Rizzo came up next and continued to produce in his new uniform, lining a single up the middle. LeMahieu stopped at third, but Cedric Mullins’ throw from center field hit second base and bounced away, allowing LeMahieu to score for the 3-0 lead.

After Aaron Judge singled, Stanton lined another single up the middle to plate Rizzo. Sanchez then roped a double to left field to make it 5-0 and chase Orioles starter Alexander Wells from the game.

Giancarlo Stanton celebrates a three-run homer against the Orioles.

Torres capped off the big inning with a sacrifice fly, which put the Yankees ahead 6-0.

Stanton padded the lead in the fourth when he cracked a three-run home run — his first since July 20 — to make it 9-0.

After the Orioles scratched across a run in the top of the eighth on Koerner, the Yankees finished off the blowout with four runs in the bottom half. Tyler Wade ripped a two-run double, Rizzo grounded out to notch an RBI in his fifth straight game as a Yankee and Judge hit a solo homer.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Greg Joyce