With the rotation in limbo, Luis Gil’s ability to deliver strong starts is as important as ever, and this start could be the launching pad for a hot stretch in July and August.

The first thing that stands out is the vertical life on Luis Gil’s fastball, as the right-hander had his best average IVB (17) in a start since June 14th, which also came against the Boston Red Sox. His release point was the highest it had been since June 9th which is encouraging because when your arm slot is lowering unintentionally, it usually means you’re dealing with fatigue. It wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for Gil, who hasn’t had a full starter’s workload in his young career, to deal with some sort of dead arm or fatigue at this stage of the season, but he responded beautifully.

While his night ended sourly, allowing a blast to Rafael Devers, the 26-year-old should not walk away discouraged because his offense couldn’t do anything. That’s a conversation for the podcast, not this article since I’m not allowed to curse on Empire Sports Media content. His four-seamer generated a 29.2% Whiff Rate, which is the highest mark for him in a start since June 14th on that pitch, and it looked much better than it had in previous starts, but that’s not the only pitch I had my eyes on.