Luis Gil dominates again in Yankees’ win over Mariners

Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton both homered again Thursday, as Yankee sluggers continue to terrorize opposing pitchers. 

Still, despite their star power, Thursday belonged to Luis Gil, who was brilliant again as he outdueled Luis Castillo in a 5-0 win over Seattle in The Bronx. 

The right-hander gave up just one hit — an infield single in the fourth by J.P. Crawford on a ball that was mishandled by Anthony Volpe — over 6 ¹/₃ shutout innings. 

It was the latest terrific performance by the 25-year-old, who set a franchise rookie record with 14 strikeouts in his previous outing. 

“What’s been impressive is how much we’ve seen him mature, not just in 18 months [since Tommy John surgery], but in the last weeks,” Aaron Boone said. “Every outing.” 

Gil, who retired the first nine batters he faced, continued a record-setting stretch by the Yankees’ rotation. 

The team’s starting pitchers have thrown at least five innings, while allowing two or fewer runs, in 11 straight games — a first in franchise history.

During the stretch, the starters are 9-1 with a 0.92 ERA. 

Perhaps none of the five starters have been a more pleasant surprise than Gil, who only earned a spot in the rotation because of the elbow injury that sidelined ace Gerrit Cole during the spring. 

In his first full season following 2022 Tommy John surgery, Gil has a 2.11 ERA and has given up more than five hits just once in his 10 outings. 

“Any time you lose the ace of your team, a guy who just won a Cy Young, it’s gonna impact the staff and the team, and it has,’’ Judge said. “But Gil consistently goes out there and shows what he can do.” 

Prior to the game, Boone said the team hasn’t yet formulated a plan of what to do if all five starters are still healthy when Cole returns, which could be as soon as late next month. 

He noted that would be a good problem to have. 

The manager also added there is no predetermined innings limit on Gil, who has never pitched more than 108 innings in a season. 

With Gil dealing again — he’s 5-0 with a 0.59 ERA in his last five starts — the offense got yet another jolt from Judge and Stanton, who both went deep early. 

Stanton gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead when he opened the bottom of the second with a mammoth 445-foot homer to dead center. 

It was Stanton’s 12th homer of the season and fourth in his last nine games. 

Judge homered the next inning to right-center, his 15th of the year and sixth in 11 games. 

“He’s as good as it gets,’’ Boone said. 

Gil found himself in trouble for the first time in the sixth.

After the leadoff walk to Ty France and back-to-back strikeouts, Gil walked Dylan Moore. 

Following a visit from pitching coach Matt Blake, Gil retired Luke Raley to end the 31-pitch inning. 

Gil was pulled one out into the seventh inning, having allowed just the one hit over his 96-pitch outing. 

The Yankees padded their lead in the seventh, as Volpe led off with a double to left and stole third before Juan Soto singled through a drawn-in infield. 

Alex Verdugo and Anthony Rizzo followed with a pair of sacrifice flies to make it 5-0. 

Victor Gonzalez and Nick Burdi loaded the bases in the eighth before Clay Holmes got out of the jam and finished the game in his first outing since giving up his first earned runs of the season on Monday. 

The win was the Yankees’ ninth in their last 11 games, as they got back to a season-high 18 games over .500 before a nine-game West Coast trip that begins Friday in San Diego.