The game lasted under three hours, the starter was dominant, and the Tigers didn’t score a single run. No, I’m not talking about last night’s win, I’m talking about the Yankees’ 3-0 win tonight in which Luis Severino made up that incredible streak of seven inning starts that went through the rotation and the lineup straight did enough to still win another series.
I feel like we can start cutting and pasting a lot of pitching summaries. Another tag, another six or more shutout innings from the starter, a few puffs, and if the opponent happens to make a run, it’s probably down to nonsense or a single mistake. We’re really running out of superlatives for this rotation and I can’t remember a time when I’ve been a fan of this team and great starts are the expectation of everyone in the starting XI.
Today it was Luis Severino’s turn. He gave up a hit in the second inning and nothing after that. He did what everyone else in the rotation has done this year – he was as effective late in the game as he was early in the sixth inning:
As we say:
It’s not an official metric, but the Yankees 1-5 starters are the No. 1-5 in baseball for “the number of times I snort on TV because they make bats look so silly.”
– Pinstripe Avenue (@pinstripeallee) June 4, 2022
Severino generated 20 puffs and 11 called strikes. Only two balls hit with an xBA over .500. Yes, the Tigers aren’t that great of a team, but every win counts, and Detroit just didn’t have an answer for Severino. Even the hit he gave up was a liner that Isiah Kiner-Falefa almost caught, and in fact I expected it too. This rotation is on one right now, and Sevy was just the next in line to have a great outing.
Offensively, I think we can cut and paste a lot of flashbacks as well. Aaron Judge hit a home run on the first pitch seen by a Yankee batter, his 21st of the year, taking him (for now) to a 62 pace all season. Anthony Rizzo also went deep, I think he’s officially put an end to his May funk as he’s hit two home runs now in June and was all offense in that win over the Angels this week.
As for the rest of the lineup, well…
I thought Beau Brieske’s fastball looked good, and the Yankees didn’t seem prepared for his slider and were wary of strikes. Overall though, it was a repeat of what we’ve seen a lot this year, the top guys in the lineup carry offense, the bottom half can’t handle much of anything, and Aaron Judge is on pace for 62 things but only 128 RBI because people are not based in front of him.
The Yankees loaded bases at the bottom of eighth, two higher, and Josh Donaldson managed a sack fly for a little insurance, but it’s still a bit of a letdown after last night’s 13-run blast.
If there’s a risk for this team, it’s that if the staff suffer an injury or just have a bad week or two, which can happen, the lineup isn’t long enough to cover them the way you do would like to see. Well, I don’t think there’s any real reason for a regression in the rotation, so maybe they’ll just keep going like this — they’re knocking out a bunch of guys, they’re not going many, and they’re getting deep into the games now, which is causing that Reduced risk of volatility from too many minions in the same game.
The Yankees are now 13-2-2 going this season, which is pretty much the blueprint for how to open a season at 38-15. You can sweep the Tigers tomorrow at the first Peacock game of the season, an 11:35 a.m. start time that will only be accessible via the streaming service.
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