NEW YORK (AP) — Luis Gil is expected to make his season debut for the New York Yankees on Sunday at Miami after missing four months with a lat strain.
The reigning AL Rookie of the Year struck out seven over 4 1/3 innings Tuesday for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Gil threw 50 of 75 pitches for strikes, allowing one run and three hits in his fourth minor league rehabilitation start.
Injured in spring training, the right-hander is lined up to return this weekend against the Marlins after pitching 14 1/3 innings in the minors.
“I think that’s the plan right now,” manager Aaron Boone said before the Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays 7-5 on Tuesday night.
Gil began facing hitters on June 21, when he threw 20 pitches of live batting practice at Yankee Stadium, and made his first rehab start July 13 for Double-A Somerset.
“I think for the most part, get through it hopefully successfully, and strike-throwing and carrying his stuff throughout the outing,” Boone said. “You want to see those things, but we’re also mindful of it that in a lot of ways it’s spring training for him and building up.
“So there’s definitely that next level of competitive juices and adrenaline that’ll be flowing once he gets back up here.”
Gil stopped a bullpen session on Feb. 28 because of tightness in his pitching shoulder. He went to New York for a second MRI that revealed a high-grade lat strain on March 3.
He was shut down from throwing for at least six weeks after receiving the original diagnosis, and at the time the Yankees said he would not return until June at the earliest. On April 16, the Yankees said Gil’s throwing program would be delayed for about 10 days.
The 27-year-old Gil went 15-7 with a 3.50 ERA in 29 starts for the AL East champions last year, striking out 171 and walking a major league-high 77 in 151 2/3 innings.
Acquired from the Minnesota Twins in a 2018 trade, Gil made a successful return from Tommy John surgery and threw eight more innings in a pair of postseason starts as the Yankees reached the World Series for the first time since 2009.
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