Sevy learns lesson in shortened start
In a battle of veteran hitter and young ace, Joe Mauer won out. Luis Severino, on the wrong end of the duel, hopes he can tuck the lesson away for a potential playoff rematch in less than two weeks. The 13-pitch at-bat with the bases loaded in the third inning of Wednesday’s 11-3 Yankees win ended with Mauer ripping an RBI single through the right side. It helped contribute to the Twins’ knockout punch of Severino, who was forced to throw 46 pitches in the threerun inning. He did not come out for the fourth. “When you throw that many pitches, you are concerned,” manager Joe Girardi said. “That’s a long inning.” Girardi pulled Severino after three innings and 71 pitches, the fewest he has thrown all year. His only shorter outing in innings came when he threw 2 ¹/3 frames (and 77 pitches) against the Astros on May 14. “Everything was good until that atbat against Mauer,” said Severino, who had faced the minimum through two innings. “I have to tip my cap to Mauer. That was it. I couldn’t go more than that. Thirteen pitches to him, I threw 40-something pitches [that inning], I was tired.”
Severino said his takeaway from the Mauer atbat was to try to locate his pitches better.
The Yankees had chosen to bump Severino up to start Wednesday’s series finale in order to allow him to make two more starts if needed by the end of the regular season. In doing so, he faced the team he could potentially take the mound against in a do-or-die wild-card game if the Yankees cannot catch the Red Sox for the AL East title.
Severino said Tuesday he thought facing the Twins for the first time in his career before a potential playoff matchup would help. He maintained that view after Wednesday’s abbreviated outing.
“Now I know how they hit,” he said. “They like to bunt a lot. They didn’t bunt today, but they’ve got a good team.”
In three September starts before Wednesday, Severino had been dominant, allowing just three earned runs over 21 innings. Then the Twins tagged him for three earned runs in just three innings. “I just thought he was a little off today,” Girardi said. “The [third] inning got started with a nubber off the end of the bat, he gave up some ground-ball hits. A great hitter in Joe Mauer put up a tough atbat on him.” After Mauer broke the stalemate, Jorge Polanco came up next and roped a two-run single to almost the same spot on the first pitch he saw. Severino came back to retire the next two batters, but his day was done. The Yankees’ offense picked up their starter, coming back to pound out 11 runs and make the three-run third seem like a minor blip, but Severino banked away the experience. “They can hit the ball,” he said. “That was good I faced them today.”