Yankees’ ALDS Game 1 starter Luis Gil inspired by Schlittler

TORONTO — Cam Schlittler made himself a tough act to follow.

Darn near impossible, actually.

But righthander Luis Gil, tabbed to start Game 1 of the Yankees’ American League Division Series  against the Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon at Rogers Center, said Schlittler’s historic outing served as inspiration not only for him but for the entire rotation.

“I think what he was able to do last night, it just motivated everybody,” Gil said Friday through his interpreter.

Schlittler, 24, who beat out Gil for the third rotation spot down the stretch of the regular season, struck out 12 in eight  innings in the Yankees’ 4-0 victory over the Red Sox in the deciding Game 3 of their AL Wild Card Series. He became the first pitcher in MLB history to throw at least eight scoreless innings with at least 12 strikeouts and no walks in a postseason game.

“Man, that was impressive to see,” Gil said. “He’s such a young talent.”

Gil, last year’s American League Rookie of the Year, is hardly an old warhorse. The 27-year-old, though lacking the consistent command Schlittler generally has, is a similar pitcher, one featuring an electric high-90s fastball — one he made a point of dialing back on occasion this season in order to better his command — and off-speed pitches that at times are considered plus.

“He’s got great stuff,” said lefthander Carlos Rodon, slated to start Game 3 of the best-of-five series when it shifts back to Yankee Stadium. “The fastball can be pretty explosive at times. Obviously, last year it was really, really good. Changeup seems like his main secondary [pitch], and that was the case all of last year as well. And the slider, if the slider’s working, he’s really hard to hit.”

After going 15-7 with a 3.50 ERA in 29 starts last season, Gil missed the first four months of this season with a right lat strain suffered early in spring training. He returned Aug. 3 and went 4-1 with a 3.32 ERA in 11 starts.

One of those was a solid Sept. 6 outing against the Blue Jays, a 3-1 Yankees victory in which he allowed one run, three hits and four walks in six innings.

Gil said Friday that he feels the best he has all season and added: “I finally feel that I’m 100%.”

Friday will mark Gil’s third career postseason appearance. He made two starts during the Yankees’ 2024 postseason run —  ALCS Game 4  against the Guardians, in which he allowed two runs, three hits and three walks in four innings of an 8-6 victory, and  World Series Game 4 against the Dodgers, in which he allowed four runs, five hits and two walks in four innings of an 11-4 victory.

“Just feel like he’s ready for this, he’s in line for it,” Aaron Boone said of the organizational call to go with Gil over rookie Will Warren. “Decided we want to keep Warren an option in the pen, and we feel like Luis is ready to go.”

Gil will be taking on a Blue Jays team that gave the Yankees fits all season, winning eight of 13 matchups. That included a four-game sweep here June 30-July 3 (the Yankees did win two of three from Toronto Sept. 5-7).

The Blue Jays, though they struggled down the stretch and nearly coughed up a five-game lead with 11 games to play (both clubs finished an AL-best 94-68), are the kind of team that generally has given the Yankees trouble over the years. In addition to playing solid defense, Toronto features a lineup that consistently puts the ball in play.

The Blue Jays’ overall success against the Yankees this season prompted one of their longtime broadcasters, Buck Martinez, to comment during a Sept. 9 game that “the Yankees, they’re not a good team. I don’t care what their record is. They have a lot of wild pitches. They make a lot of mistakes in the field. They don’t run the bases very well.”

He sounded a lot like much of the Yankees’ fan base in recent years, but the Yankees did have an MLB-best 32-12 record after Aug. 10, playing a much cleaner brand of baseball.

Boone, speaking before his team’s workout Friday, clearly had been laying in wait to respond to Martinez.

“Contrary to some thoughts up here, we’re a really good team,” Boone said. “I know Buck had some thoughts . . . He’s wrong. But it doesn’t matter. We’ve got to go play, and we’ve got to go perform, as everyone does this time of year.”

Erik Boland started in Newsday’s sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.