Yankees plot playoff pitching as they hit the

Luis Severino was throwing on flat ground on Friday and Domingo German threw a bullpen. The Yankees had expected both to be back pitching in the big leagues by now, but with less than a month to go in the regular season the question is will either be able to get back this season.

Aaron Boone isn’t ready to say no yet.

“I think there’s time,” the Yankees manager said Saturday morning before the Yankees game against the Orioles at the Stadium, “[but] it might be cutting it close in some cases.”

“Whether it’s out of the bullpen and shorter stints or whether it’s giving us some bulk I don’t know how much we’ll be able to get them built up, but I mean, we’ll see. … We got a month left of the season. So instead of speculating on it, we’ll see how their progression goes and see at what point they’re able to help us and in what role.”

While the Yankees are still chasing the Rays, who lead the American League East by 6.5 games, they have a 1.5 game lead in the wild card race and can start thinking about how they will use their pitchers in different playoff scenarios.

Sunday, Corey Kluber will make his second start since missing three months with a shoulder injury. The two-time Cy Young winner has gone from struggling to pitching a no-hitter, to missing three months, to trying to find his way back into that playoff rotation. He likely has four more starts to show he can effectively get outs.

Boone was encouraged by Kluber’s last start, when he gave up five earned runs in four innings pitched.

“I think just continuing to build up getting that full volume of a starter’s workflow ...,” Boone said of what he hopes to see Kluber refine down the stretch. “I thought the shapes on his pitches were really good. I thought his breaking ball ... was really strong. He made the one mistake for the grand slam. But other than that, I thought his breaking ball was really good.

“And it’s just continuing to kind of tighten up. I feel like the movement, the quality of his pitches which is a hallmark of his success, is there. Now it’s just building that endurance and finding that consistent command with everything, which hopefully will allow him to really take off.”

Nestor Cortes made the case once again Friday night that he will play some kind of role in the playoffs.

Severino came off missing most of the 2019 season to pitch in the playoffs, but this time he is coming off Tommy John surgery and has not pitched in a big league game since those playoffs. German missed all of 2020 serving a domestic violence suspension.

Where they fit in the playoff picture is uncertain.

URSHELA UPBEAT

Gio Urshela spent about 20 minutes taking ground balls at third base Saturday morning and then said that his sore left wrist is feeling better — but not good enough to play Saturday as the

Yankees had expected.

“I was hoping that would be the case. But we didn’t quite see enough [improvement Friday],” Boone said. “He’s gonna go through some similar stuff this morning. So we’ll see where we’re at.”

After the workout, Urshela said he was very close and thought he would be able to play on Sunday.