Luis Gil played with fire and lived to tell about it Wednesday in the first game of a doubleheader.
Will Warren played with fire and got lit up in the nightcap.
That’s how the Yankees split the twinbill, capturing a 5-2 win in Game 1 behind five shutout innings from Gil before the Angels tagged Warren to take the second game, 8-2, in rainy and cool conditions in The Bronx.
After a long and soggy day of baseball — much of it a slog — the Yankees (68-47) ended the night tied with the Orioles atop the AL East.
Warren had turned in a solid MLB debut last week against the Phillies, then got called back up Wednesday as the 27th man for the doubleheader following Tuesday’s washout.
But in his first time pitching at Yankee Stadium, Warren got rocked by the Angels (50-64) for eight runs on eight hits and three walks across 4 ¹/₃ innings.
“Mistakes are magnified here,” Warren said. “So I got to find a way to get out [of jams], limit the damage, get these guys a chance to get some runs and get us back in it.”
Angels shortstop Zach Neto was responsible for most of the damage, crushing a grand slam to cap a six-run second inning then drilling a two-run double in the fourth.
Neto had also belted a two-run homer off reliever Jake Cousins in Game 1, the only two runs the Angels scored in the opener.
Warren nearly made it out of the second inning with only one run crossing the plate. He loaded the bases after giving up that run before striking out back-to-back hitters as the Angels lineup flipped over.
But he issued a four-pitch walk to leadoff man Nolan Schanuel to force in another run, then Neto pounced on a 3-2 sinker over the plate for the grand slam.
“A lot of good in there, but in the end, not enough execution in spots he needed it,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I really believe he’s going to be a really good pitcher in this league. There’s a lot of good things to take away, but a lot of things to still build on.”
Game 1 was a much different story, as Gil stranded seven runners while grinding through five shutout innings on a career-high 107 pitches.
The rookie right-hander, struggling with his grip in the rain, walked five batters but allowed just two hits and struck out six, making timely pitches when he had to.
“You understand you find yourself in a big-time competition and knowing we have a second game coming,” Gil said through an interpreter between games. “So for me it was important to give the best I have and take the game as long as I could out there.”
Gil had the support of an offense that both scored at least four runs and recorded at least nine hits for a season-high 10th straight game.
The runs streak was snapped in Game 2, though they had at least nine hits for an 11th straight game, marking their longest streak since 2007.
The top of the lineup did much of the heavy lifting in the opener, as Alex Verdugo, Aaron Judge and Austin Wells each chipped in two hits and an RBI, with Oswaldo Cabrera also adding a solo home run.
Though Judge (3-for-6, three walks on the night) has been a constant all season, he has gotten more help lately from the rest of the lineup.
In Game 1, that included Verdugo (2-for-5, two doubles) out of the leadoff spot and Wells (2-for-4, walk) in the cleanup spot.
Wells, on the bench for Game 2, has now reached base multiple times in 10 of his past 12 starts, batting .380 with a 1.030 OPS during that stretch.
“[Wells is] just looking like a real hitter, real middle-of-the-order hitter,” Boone said. “I think this is what he is and it just took him a minute to get it. And now he’s getting regular, everyday at-bats — that probably has helped a little bit.”
DJ LeMahieu continued a strong week by being in the middle of both Yankees runs in the nightcap — driving in one on a single and then scoring the other after doubling — but that was all they could get after Warren put them in an early hole.