Sevy upset by cautious hook

GETTY & AP

HOUSTON — There are legitimate reasons why certain idioms become universally accepted, and erring on the side of caution generally is a solid rule of thumb to live by, especially when dealing with valuable commodities such as 23-year-old All-Star starting pitchers.

Still, Joe Girardi and ace hurler Luis Severino certainly were not on the same page after Girardi invoked that time-tested mantra on Saturday. Not during and not after the Yankees’ second consecutive disheartening 2-1 loss to the Astros put them in a familiar place this October — down 0-2 in a playoff series heading home to the Bronx to see if they have yet one more comeback in them for 2017.

Severino had been cruising along, matching three early zeroes on the scoreboard with veteran stud Justin Verlander, when Carlos Correa launched a video-confirmed home run that nearly turned a 12-yearold Astros fan named Carson Riley into a modern-day version of Jeffrey Maier more than two decades later.

Either way, Severino pressed on in an attempt to keep the deficit against Verlander at one run. But after throwing one errant changeup way off the plate to the next batter, Marwin Gonzalez, Severino made a circular stretching motion with his right arm, causing Girardi and a trainer to immediately sprint out of the dugout.

Severino initially convinced them he was good to go, and he retired Gonzalez and Yuli Gurriel to get out of the inning, even with the latter’s scorched comebacker clipping the All-Star righty just below his glove on his left wrist.

The Yanks drew themselves even the next half-inning on Todd Frazier’s odd ground-rule double that got stuck in a chain-link section of the fence in leftcenter. It’s one of a few quirky rules in retractable-roofed Minute Maid Park, even if the Astros finally removed that odd hill leading to the centerfield fence after last season.

Back to Severino, though, as the emerging ace did not come back out for the fifth, replaced by Tommy Kahnle. And away we go… “We saw him throw that one changeup and then he kind of did this (shaking motion) with his arm and there was some concern on our parts there. That’s why I ran out and he reassured me that he was fine,” Girardi said. “Some of our staff thought that and some people that were watching thought that maybe he was pushing the ball a little bit.

“He wasn’t very happy I took him out, but I think it is my responsibility to protect this kid. He’s very young, he’s thrown more innings than he has thrown during the course of a season. He gave us a great effort today, but we felt that, and I felt, it was me, that I couldn’t take a chance.”

Fair enough, the side of caution, all that sort of thing. I totally get it.

Severino, it should be noted is now up to 204.2 innings for the season — 43 more than the most he’d previously thrown in one year, his 2015 year split between Double-A, Triple-A and the Yanks.

Except, Severino clearly was still displeased a couple of hours later, after he’d failed to convince Girardi or the medical staff to allow his duel with Verlander to continue.

“I told him I was good and they told me they saw something. I told them I wanted to go over there and pitch. So I didn’t agree with that,” Severino said. “Maybe they were worried or something like that, but like I said, I felt great and wanted to keep pitching.”

It didn’t hurt that Tommy Kahnle and David Robertson continued to justify Brian Cashman’s deadline deal that also imported Frazier from Chicago in late-July, with four more combined innings of shutout ball before the ’Stros walked it off against Aroldis Chapman and ball-dropping backstop Gary Sanchez in the ninth.

But the best news here, for now, is that doctors checked out Severino following his departure and determined no further tests will be required once the Yanks get back to New York.

“I feel fine, don’t need nothing, don’t need any tests,” Severino said. “I’m a smart guy. If I feel something, I’m going to say it. I’m not going to go out there and hurt myself. But I didn’t feel nothing.

“I’m a fighter, I wanted to go out there and continue fighting. I was really ready to give six or seven innings.”

Severino went on to suggest he believes he still has another 20 or 30 frames left in his right arm for the year, and he fully expects his teammates to extend the series again and give him another crack at Houston in Game 6. till, while Severino described the occasional stretching of his arm while on the mound as nothing more than “a habit,” Girardi admittedly viewed it as “a red flag” for his prized young pitcher.

And the manager firmly stood behind that decision afterward.

“He says he’s fine. My concern, well, when a guy goes like this (with his arm), I’m thinking shoulder. That’s my initial reaction,” Girardi said. “But again, being as many innings as he’s thrown, the concern, I just wasn’t going to take a chance.”

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