NEW YORK (AP) — Luis Gil faced hitters for the first time since straining his right lat in spring training, throwing about 20 pitches in a session New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone described on Saturday as “free and easy."
About two hours before the Yankees continued their three-game series with Baltimore, Gil notched four strikeouts — three swinging. Since several of the backups who would take part in live sessions were in the lineup, Gil threw to bullpen catcher Peter Serruto and information coordinator Ryan McLaughlin.
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New York Yankees' Luis Gil, left, and Andy Pettitte, right, look on during live batting practice before a baseball game between the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles, Saturday, June 21, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
New York Yankees' Luis Gil, left, and Andy Pettitte, right, are on the field during live batting practice before a baseball game between the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles, Saturday, June 21, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
New York Yankees' manager Aaron Boone and Luis Gil talk during live batting practice before a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Saturday, June 21, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
New York Yankees' Luis Gil looks to first before throwing during live batting practice before a baseball game between the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles, Saturday, June 21, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
New York Yankees' Luis Gil throws during live batting practice before a baseball game between the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles, Saturday, June 21, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
FILE - New York Yankees pitcher Luis Gil throws against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the first inning in Game 4 of the baseball World Series, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File)
“I felt it looked really good,” Boone said. “I think he was 95, 96. It looked every bit of that, looked like it. Just the metrics on the four-seam were really good and I thought he was in control of himself. So free and easy.”
The Yankees are unsure of how many more times Gil will face hitters before progressing to a rehab game. Boone is hopeful the 2024 AL Rookie of the Year can return by the end of July.
“I felt really good out there,” Gil said through a translator. "It’s been a long process. You heal little by little. It felt good to get on the mound to face some hitters.”
Gil stopped a bullpen session on Feb. 28 because of tightness in his pitching shoulder. He went to New York for a second MRI that revealed a high-grade lat strain on March 3.
Gil was shut down from throwing for at least six weeks after receiving the original diagnosis, and at the time the Yankees said he would not return until June at the earliest. On April 16, the Yankees said Gil’s throwing program would be delayed for about 10 days.
“It’s important. Fortunately, after the setback, it’s been a slow build up, but it’s gone well,” Boone said. “It feels like kind of every step of the way. So that’s been encouraging and now we start to build. We start to build lives, pitch counts and then eventually getting into rehab games. So definitely another important box to check.”
The 26-year-old Gil went 15-7 with a 3.50 ERA in 29 starts for the AL East champions last year, striking out 171 and walking a major league-high 77 in 151 2/3 innings. Acquired from the Minnesota Twins in a 2018 trade, Gil made a successful return from Tommy John surgery and threw eight more innings in a pair of postseason starts as the Yankees reached the World Series for the first time since 2009.
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New York Yankees' Luis Gil, left, and Andy Pettitte, right, look on during live batting practice before a baseball game between the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles, Saturday, June 21, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
New York Yankees' Luis Gil, left, and Andy Pettitte, right, are on the field during live batting practice before a baseball game between the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles, Saturday, June 21, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
New York Yankees' manager Aaron Boone and Luis Gil talk during live batting practice before a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Saturday, June 21, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
New York Yankees' Luis Gil looks to first before throwing during live batting practice before a baseball game between the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles, Saturday, June 21, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
New York Yankees' Luis Gil throws during live batting practice before a baseball game between the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles, Saturday, June 21, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
FILE - New York Yankees pitcher Luis Gil throws against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the first inning in Game 4 of the baseball World Series, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File)
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Lamar Jackson thought it was over. That the Baltimore Ravens' unwieldy season would end up in a familiar spot: the playoffs.
Then, rookie kicker Tyler Loop's potential game-winning field goal from 44 yards out drifted a little right. And then a little further right. And then a little further right still.
By the time it fluttered well wide of the goalposts, the playoffs were gone. So was Jackson's certainty after a 26-24 loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday night sent the Ravens into what could be a turbulent offseason.
“I'm definitely stunned, man,” Jackson said. “I thought we had it in the bag. ... I don't know what else we can do.”
Jackson, who never really seemed fully healthy during his eighth season as he battled one thing after another, did his part. The two-time NFL MVP passed for 238 yards and three touchdowns, including two long connections with Zay Flowers in the fourth quarter that put the Ravens (8-9) in front.
It just wasn't enough. Baltimore's defense, which played most of the second half without star safety Kyle Hamilton after Hamilton entered the concussion protocol, wilted against 42-year-old Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Rodgers passed for a season-high 294 yards, including a 26-yard flip to a wide-open Calvin Austin with 55 seconds to go after a defender slipped, symbolic of a season in which Baltimore's defense only occasionally found its form.
Still, the Ravens had a chance when Jackson found Isaiah Likely for a 28-yard gain on fourth down from midfield. A couple of snaps later, the 24-year-old Loop walked on to try to lift Baltimore to its third straight division title.
Instead, the rookie said he “mishit” it. Whatever it was, it never threatened to sneak between the goalposts.
“It’s disappointing,” Loop said.
Loop was talking about the game. He might as well have been talking about his team's season.
The Ravens began 1-5 as Jackson dealt with injuries and the defense struggled to get stops. Baltimore found a way to briefly tie the Steelers for first in late November, only to then split its next four games, including a home loss to Pittsburgh.
Still, when Jackson and the Ravens walked onto the Acrisure Stadium turf on Sunday night in the 272nd and final game of the NFL regular season, Baltimore was confident. The Ravens drilled Pittsburgh in the opening round of the playoffs a year ago behind the ever-churning legs of running back Derrick Henry.
When Henry ripped off a gain of 40-plus yards on the game's first offensive snap, it looked like it was going to be more of the same. While Henry did rush for 126 yards and joined Hall of Famer Barry Sanders as the only running backs in NFL history to have five 1,500-yard seasons, he was less effective in the second half.
Even that first run was telling of what night it was going to be, as an illegal block by wide receiver Zay Flowers cost Baltimore some field position. The Ravens ended up scoring on the drive anyway, thanks to a 38-yard fourth-down flip from Jackson to a wide-open Devontez Walker, but it started a pattern that was hard to shake as several steps forward were met with one step back on a night the Ravens finished with nine penalties for 78 yards.
“We were having a lot of penalties, which kept stopping drives," Jackson said. “But I'm proud of my guys because we kept overcoming. We kept overcoming adversity and situations like this. Divisional games (can) be like that sometimes.”
Particularly when the Steelers are on the other side of the line of scrimmage. Pittsburgh has won 10 of the last 13 meetings. And while a handful of them have been in late-season matchups with the Ravens already assured of reaching the playoffs, the reality is the Steelers have been able to regularly do something that most others have not: found a way to beat Jackson.
“It comes down to situations like this,” Jackson said. “Two-point conversion one year. Field goal another year. And again this year. Just got to find a way to get that win here.”
And figure out who is going to be around to help get it.
Head coach John Harbaugh's 18th season in Baltimore ended with the Ravens missing the playoffs for just the second time in eight years. Jackson turns 29 this week and is still one of the most electric players in the league.
Yet Harbaugh and Jackson have yet to find a way to have that breakthrough season that Harbaugh enjoyed with Joe Flacco in 2013 when the Ravens won the Super Bowl.
There was hope when the season began that the roadblocks that have long been in the franchise's way — Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes chief among them — would be gone.
While the Ravens did get their way in a sense — the Chiefs will watch the playoffs from afar for the first time in a decade after a nightmarish season of their own — it never all came together.
Jackson declined to endorse Harbaugh returning for a 19th season, saying the loss was still too fresh to zoom out on what it might mean for the franchise going forward.
Harbaugh, for his part, certainly seems up for running it back in the fall.
“I love these guys,” he said afterward. “I love these guys.”
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, right, hands the ball off to running back Derrick Henry (22) during the first half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh talks with an offical during the second half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Justin Berl)
Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle Cameron Heyward, left, greets Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) after an NFL football game Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Pittsburgh Steelers safety Jabrill Peppers (40) reacts after Baltimore Ravens kicker Tyler Loop (33) missed a field goal attempt in the second half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
