The Yankees winning machine keeps pumping
The Yankees 5-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins in the Bronx on Tuesday evening had them neck and neck with the Philadelphia Phillies for the best record in Major League Baseball at the start of their game last night (Wednesday) versus the Twins. They were 43-19, grabbing first place in the American League East, 2.5 games in front of the second place Baltimore Orioles (39-20), last year’s division champions. The Yankees went into last night’s second game of the three-game series against the Twins on a six-game win streak and 17-4 over their previous 21.
Yankees starting pitcher Luis Gil continued his sterling campaign on Tuesday, tossing six-innings of one-hit ball to raise his record to 8-1 in 12 starts this season. It was Gil’s seventh straight win and he ended his night tied for second in all of MLB in wins and second in ERA at 1.82 behind the Phillies’ Ranger Suarez’s 1.70. Although the 26-year-old righty from the Dominican Republic pitched 29.1 innings for the Yankees in 2022 and four last season, he is still considered a rookie and the early favorite for the American League Rookie of the Year honor.
Through an interpreter Gil noted that the “experience I’ve been gaining, little by little, is definitely a plus.” With Gil coming off Tommy John surgery, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said the team will take a prudent approach to his workload.
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Boone noted “there may be outings along the way, assuming everything continues to go well, where I pull back on pitch count or whatever,’’ said Boone. “There’ll be some strategic things like that.’’
Center fielder Aaron Judge and right fielder Juan Soto have been the drivers of a potent offense and arguably the top two AL MVP candidates as the competition stands today. Soto entered last night’s game with fourth in the league in batting at .319, tied for fourth in home runs with 17 and tied for second in RBI with 53. Judge led all of baseball with 21 homers and was fifth 49 runs batted in.
The Yankees finish up with the Twins tonight, face the Los Angeles Dodgers for three games this weekend at home and will take on the Kansas City Royals beginning on Monday four games on the road.
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