Yankees pitcher Luis Severino's struggles continued with his latest shelling by the Orioles on Thursday night.
There was a lot of booing in the Bronx as Luis Severino and the New York Yankees suffered a brutal 14-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday. Severino gave up seven runs in the latest of his awful starts. He was pulled in the third inning. The game ended with position player Isiah Kiner-Falefa pitching.
With his unreliability this season, a Severino bump day has basically become an expected loss. Since coming off the IL in May, the 29-year-old right-hander is 1-4 with a 7.38 ERA in nine starts. The batting average against him is .315, and he's allowed 40 runs in 42.2 innings.
After last night's game he told reporters, "I don't feel good about any of my pitches right now."
Aside from a solid start on June 24 against the Texas Rangers, Severino has been lost this summer.
Good news for the team is that one Yankee is coming off the IL and joining the rotation, while another isn't far off from returning. Carlos Rodon makes his Yankees debut on Friday night in the Bronx. Nestor Cortes is working his way back and is expected to face live hitters next week. Once the Yankees get Cortes back, as long as everyone in the rotation stays healthy, the Yankees will have a question to answer. Who comes out of the rotation?
Yankees fans have had enough with Luis Severino
Fans have grown frustrated with Severino and many are ready to see him yanked from the rotation. Some fans are even ready to see him out of New York. With unfortunate timing, Friday is Luis Severino bobblehead night. Unsurprisingly, fans aren't thrilled about that, either.
Although Severino hasn't given much reason for the Yankees to trust him this year, they probably aren't ready to pull him from the rotation quite yet. Before they get to that point, they're going to look into his recent starts and see if they can figure out what needs tweaking.
"We've got to dig deep and get Sevy where he needs to be," manager Aaron Boone told the media after the game, via MLB.com.
Pitching coach Matt Blake pointed out, "This is a little bit excessive for Sevy, because he's a historically good Major League pitcher." He noted that Severino needs to "get back to focusing on things he can control, and that's his execution and pitch shapes and delivery."
But the Yankees are running out of time to figure out what's going on with Severino. Just ahead of the All-Star break, they're closer to last place in the AL East than they are to first. After the first week of July, the Yankees are tied with the Toronto Blue Jays for third place. A Yankees loss and Blue Jays win on Friday night would drop the Yankees to fourth place.
Their struggling offense isn't helping matters, either. The upcoming All-Star break is a welcome reset button for the team. It gives them time to figure things out with Severino, time for Nestor Cortes and Aaron Judge to keep getting healthier, and time to push through this rough patch and return from the break much stronger. Or add some help.
Severino's time in New York is running out. The Yankees still hope that he can return to form. As Boone said, "Everyone knows what kind of pitcher he is. We have to get him there." Severino will look to turn things around after the All-Star Break.
