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Luis Gil leaves the Yankees' game against the Guardians due to a back injury

NEW YORK – Yankees starter Luis Gil abruptly left the game Tuesday night and was escorted by an athletic trainer from the mound to the home team's locker room.

According to the club, the cause was tension in the lower back. Gil will be examined again on Wednesday, but no imaging is planned at this time. He was examined by an orthopedic surgeon at Yankee Stadium.

Concern for Gil was evident after the right-hander made an uncompetitive pitch on a stolen base by Steven Kwan of the Cleveland Guardians in the fourth inning and did not record a single out.

After a brief conversation on the mound with manager Aaron Boone, right-hander Gil left the field with a 1-1 tie against Jose Ramirez and Cleveland took a 3-2 lead.

Left-handed reliever Tim Hill finished the inning without allowing a run.

The Guardians had boosted Gil's pitch count on Tuesday, throwing 78 pitches in three innings and allowing three runs on three hits and six walks – his best performance in a start since April 15 in Toronto.

After securing a spot in the rotation in spring training (the spot had become vacant due to nerve irritation in Gerrit Cole's elbow), Gil was overall the Yankees' best starter this season.

But the rookie also entered new territory in terms of workload: By Tuesday, he had completed 121.1 innings – around 25 professional innings more than his previous high.

“Stuff-wise, he's in a really good position,” Boone said before the game. “Looks strong to me.”

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Due to two recent off days for the team, Gil had seven days off from pitching on Tuesday.

Although he is not subject to a strict innings limit this year, the Yankees have been paying attention to Gil's workload at certain intervals and have occasionally given him additional rest.

The Yankees hope that Clarke Schmidt (latency strain) may return to the rotation in early September.

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