The Yankees welcomed one starting pitcher back Wednesday, but another has grown further away from his debut.

On a night Clarke Schmidt returned, the Yankees disclosed that Luis Gil will need more time before beginning his progression.

Gil, who has been shut down since early March with a high-grade lat strain, had been slated to begin throwing either Wednesday or Thursday.

The Yankees ordered an MRI exam this week in hopes of getting a green light, but the light remained red: The exam showed healing, manager Aaron Boone said, but not enough healing.

The next hope is Gil will begin throwing in 10 days.

“It’s going as it should,” Boone said before the Yankees beat the Royals 4-3 in The Bronx. “We just need another 10 days.”

Gil, who has been inactive since early in camp, essentially will need an entire spring training’s worth of work beginning when he can throw again.

The Yankees would be happy if he can be a factor by the end of June.

The Yankees will not rush the reigning AL Rookie of the Year, even if their rotation has been both hurting and hard-hit.

Gerrit Cole is gone for the year, Schmidt missed the first nearly three weeks of the season and Marcus Stroman landed on the IL this weekend with knee inflammation.

Only Max Fried has pitched well — and only Fried has a sub-5.00 ERA among the five starters who opened the year in the rotation — for a group that entered play with a collective 4.98 ERA, the third worst in baseball.

The loss of Gil has hurt in part because the Yankees have not, so far, been able to unearth another finding like Gil was last year. He emerged in spring training 2024, pitched his way to a rotation spot and was among the best pitchers in baseball for several months.

He tired down the stretch in a season in which he shattered his previous innings record, but still compiled a 3.50 ERA in 29 starts in a rookie campaign that ended with hardware.

In his 149th career game and eighth in pinstripes, Fernando Cruz recorded his first save after buzzing through the Royals in the eighth and just barely surviving the ninth.

“Everything that you do for the first time in the big leagues is really special,” Cruz said. “And doing it for the Yankees — Yankee Stadium full, one-run game, six-outs — it couldn’t be better than that.”

Jonathan Loáisiga threw his second live session before the game.

The righty, who is recovering from UCL surgery last April, will go with the team to Tampa and throw to hitters there this weekend. The hope is he then throws a fourth live session “early next week,” Boone said, before starting a rehab assignment.

“Lo’s in a good spot,” Boone said.

Jake Cousins threw a touch-and-feel off the mound and will start with more official mound sessions “shortly,” Boone said.

The righty, who is on the 60-day IL until at least the end of May with an elbow flexor strain, is “a couple weeks from lives,” Boone said.