When last we saw Luis Severino, he looked about as good as he ever has looked, certainly as good as he has looked since his dreamscape of a 2018 season when he was 19-8, pitched to a 3.39 ERA, struck out 220 in 191 ¹/₃ innings. That was before his right elbow went on him (twice), before his shoulder barked at him, before a lat cost him almost two months of 2022.
We last saw Severino in Arlington, Texas, the Yankees’ last series of the season, seven no-hit innings in which he faced two hitters over the minimum. He got a little testy with Aaron Boone when the manager explained why his night was done after 94 mostly brilliant pitches. Severino confidently asserted he’d have finished off the no-no if given a chance.
Boone, of course, did the right thing that night.
Now, he will do the only proper thing he can do Saturday night and hand Severino the ball, in what suddenly will feel like a referendum on the whole season. The Guardians made certain of that by outlasting the Yankees in Game 2 of this American League Division Series on Friday afternoon, 4-2, in 10 innings.
“We never thought this was going to be easy,” Boone insisted when the buzzkill of a loss was over.
The Guardians are too skilled, have too many quality pitchers and are too well-managed for the Yankees to ever have believed this would be a complete cakewalk. Still, after winning Game 1 and jumping out to a 2-0 lead four hitters into Game 2, it felt as if the Yankees had an awfully good chance to take a stranglehold of a lead against the Guardians. That never happened.
So now the Yankees turn to Severino, give him the ball and ask him: Get us back on track. Severino seems eager for the role.
“It’s been, like, 25 days,” Severino said (actually it has been 12, but you can understand the sentiment). “So used to pitching every five or six. That will be fun to go back on the mound to compete again.”
Severino is eager to be back in the postseason. He made a four-out cameo against the Red Sox last year, and he pitched well in two playoff starts in 2019. His postseason ERA is 5.23 in nine October appearances, but that’s skewed thanks to Game 3 of the 2018 ALDS against Boston, when after flying through much of the year, he was clobbered for seven hits and six runs in three innings.
“I’m not going to forget how it feels to start in the postseason,” Severino said. “So I will try to do my best to execute my pitches and try to get quick innings, quick counts, and try to get hitters out.”
The Guardians do bring momentum with them to Progressive Field Saturday night, and that’s a nice thing to have in October, especially in a best-of-five series. But the Yankees have Gerrit Cole — who looked awfully effective in the series opener — awaiting in Game 4 and they have the safety net of a Game 5 back in Yankee Stadium if it comes to that.
So it’s not as if Severino will have the entirety of the season on his shoulders. It should be an intriguing pairing of starters, Severino coming off those seven no-hit innings against the Rangers, Cleveland’s Triston McKenzie having thrown six innings of two-hit ball against the Rays in clinching Game 2 of their wild-card series. The Yankees were 13-6 in Severino’s 19 starts; the Guardians were 19-12 in McKenzie’s 31.
And Cleveland, which has fallen hard for this underpaid, overachieving team, will be out in full force. Progressive Field can be awfully loud this time of year …
(And that’s not even including the buzzing of our old friends, the midges, who possibly will be very special guest stars Saturday night.)
… but Severino is ready for the lunacy awaiting him on Ontario Street. So, game on.
“Of course it’s going to be that way,” Severino said. “You are not going to play all games in Yankee Stadium. Pitching in Houston a couple years ago, it’s the same. They are going to cheer for their team, but I try not to think about that. I try to focus on my game and my catcher and do my job.”
If he does that, the Yankees will feel a lot better about themselves Saturday night than they did Friday. It’s a best-of-three now, with the first two hard by Lake Erie. Boone gives the ball to Severino for as important a start as he ever has made. Game on.
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