BRONX, NY — Tuesday night under the lights could not have gone much better for the New York Yankees, as the Bronx Bombers defeated the Houston Astros, 10-3 — marking their fifth victory over Houston on the season, a 5-0 record against their American League rivals.
Alex Verdugo, Anthony Volpe, and Giancarlo Stanton, each went yard off of future Cooperstown Hall of Famer Justin Verlander, and accounted for eight of the ten runs driven in for the pinstripes in their 24th win of the year, 24-13 overall.
Dance with my dawgs in the night time. pic.twitter.com/DXq8Jy9gtn
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 7, 2024
Additionally, Verdugo, 27, of Mexican-American heritage, and Juan Soto, 25, of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (2021 National League LatinoMVP), were the sole Yankees to finish with three hits on the night, while Soto’s trifecta came off of Verlander. Verdugo had two hits off of the three-time Cy Young award winner, and another off of Astros reliever Seth Martinez.
“I love it, I really do,” said Verdugo when asked about being a Yankee following Tuesday’s win. “It’s a great organization, a great team, a great staff. Honestly, I couldn’t be happier here.”
Besides his bat, Verdugo added onto the affair with his defensive awareness and versatility by completing multiple diving/sliding catches, an extremely difficult play for all MLB outfielders — charging in and diving/sliding in on a flyball/linedrive, knowing it can change trajectory at any given milli-second.
Have a night, dawg. pic.twitter.com/8GoV028iEY
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 8, 2024
“We’re seeing the kind of player that he is — on both sides of the ball,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone. “He’s been a spark, excellent, clutch and there’s no doubt that he brings a little edge to the ballpark everyday.”
On the mound, Yanks right-hander Luis Gil posted six innings of one-run ball with four walks and five strikeouts — his fourth outing on the year, where he has allowed one-run or less.
Luis Gil has a 2.92 ERA across seven outings this season – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
“It wasn’t perfect, and you still see a guy that goes out against a good offense and goes six innings, one-run, one-hit,” said Boone on Gil’s performance. “He keeps on growing, and he’s got a really high ceiling.”
The 25-year-old Azua, Dominican Republic native’s one mistake appeared in the first inning, as Houston’s Kyle Tucker connected on a 3-1 four-seam fastball, sending it to Yankee Stadium’s right field second deck — his 10th HR of 2024.
108 off the bat 😮💨 #Relentless pic.twitter.com/yBwAGCmcFu
— Houston Astros (@astros) May 7, 2024
Following the first-inning solo-blast by Tucker, Gil became more impressive, as his Tuesday night went along under the lights — by pitching to initiate contact and allowing Astro hitters to put the ball in play, rather than forcing his way through velocity.
In the process of Gil also painting the corners, out of his five strikeouts, four were from his off-speed arsenal (three changeups, one slider, and one four-seam fastball).
Luis Gil, Filthy 93mph Changeup. 👌 pic.twitter.com/44mg2X2b22
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 7, 2024
“Tonight, I felt like my command of my fastball wasn’t where I wanted it, so I had to use secondary pitches more,” said Gil. “But at the same time, I had to keep the mentality to stay in the zone and execute good pitches in certain counts.”
“This will be another start where I am going to sit down, review, and watch video to see what tweaks I want to make to keep on improving.”
Robert Rizzo is a journalist and editor of Latino Sports – Email: RobertRiz994@gmail.com
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