Luis Gil delivers ‘very encouraging’ Yankees start after rocky month

Luis Gil’s domination returned, even if it assumed a new form.

The Yankees righty found the kind of results that made him a breakout ace — even if the way he thrived began to morph — in an effort that the Yankees hope will put Gil back on track.

The 26-year-old pitched as well as he has in a month in letting up just one run (on a Rafael Devers home run) on four hits with nine strikeouts in 6 ²/₃ innings on Sunday night.

“That’s a very encouraging part of a tough end to a tough series,” manager Aaron Boone said after his club’s 3-0 loss to the Red Sox in The Bronx .

There were all sorts of questions entering the start for Gil, who owned a 2.03 ERA after 14 outings but had imploded in his past three.

Pitching in a full season for the first time on the other side of Tommy John surgery, Gil might have been growing tired as his innings piled up; perhaps opposing offenses had begun to adjust to him; maybe he needed a break.

The Yankees kept riding Gil, who responded by pumping fastballs and sliders past Boston hitters.

He nearly sidelined his changeup, which earlier this year was a go-to offering, and used it on just 15 of his 96 pitches.

Luis Gil’s dominant outing was silver lining Yankees desperately needed

“We’ve been working all week to be able to execute good fastballs out there,” Gil said through interpreter Marlon Abreu.

And when he needed to put a hitter away, he typically relied upon a biting slider.

“That’s hands-down the best slider we’ve seen from him,” Boone said.

The one mistake came on his second-to-last pitch of the night.

Gil aimed a 98.8-mph fastball on the outside half, but it ran across the middle to Devers, who hammered the go-ahead home run.

“You miss a pitch, and the quality of hitters in this league are going to make you pay,” Gil said.

Gleyber Torres’ nagging groin injury cost him another game.

The second baseman was out of the lineup for a second straight game Sunday after leaving Friday’s contest early because his right groin had tightened.

Red Sox’s Rafael Devers makes Yankees pay again with two more homers

“I think he’s fine,” Boone said. “I know he felt pretty good [Saturday] and [we had] good reports after.”

But the Yankees have an off day Monday before beginning a series in Tampa on Tuesday, and Boone said he wanted to give Torres a more prolonged break — three full days off — to allow the groin time to heal.

Torres had been mostly playing through the issue, which was not publicly known until he was pulled from a game on June 20 and cited the tightness.

On Friday, Torres ran hard to first base to successfully beat out an infield single and appeared gimpy after reaching base and was quickly subbed out.

After that game, the Yankees said there were no plans for an MRI exam.

Boone said he could have used Torres as a pinch-hitter on Saturday if needed.

Oswaldo Cabrera made his second straight start at second base and went 1-for-2 with a walk, the only Yankee to reach base twice.

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Aaron Judge (0-for-4 with three strikeouts) served as designated hitter for a seventh time in his past 10 games.

Giancarlo Stanton’s injury has given the Yankees a chance to spare Judge’s legs more than usual.

Trent Grisham started in center field and Juan Soto in right.

Before Alex Verdugo homered as part of a big Saturday, the left fielder had slumped in the past two weeks, just 9-for-56 (.161) without a homer and with 13 strikeouts in his previous 14 games.

Boone stuck with Verdugo, who remained at his customary cleanup spot against an opposing righty pitcher on Sunday and went 0-for-3.

“I like Verdugo’s presence in there,” Boone said of hitting the lefty fourth. “I feel like in the last week, he’s really starting to swing the bat well again.”

Boone chose the platoon advantage over the familiarity advantage at catcher, Austin Wells getting the start over Jose Trevino.

The lefty-hitting Wells entered play hitting .333 with two home runs in his past seven games and started against righty Kutter Crawford. Wells went 0-for-3.

The righty-hitting Trevino was on the bench despite catching Gil for 13 of Gil’s first 17 starts this season.

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