Back From Injury, Luis Severino Makes The Yankees Closer To Being Whole

Lat strains cost Luis Severino a combined four out of the past 10 months and also made the feeling the Yankee rotation was incomplete.

It still is an unfinished product until Carlos Rodon makes his debut with the Yankees but the capper of a wildly successful road trip that has put the season on the verge of being canceled by some to back in business for the Yankees was the sight of Severino taking the mound shortly after 11:40 am Sunday.

Peacock did not purposely schedule the Yankees because the streaming service knew Severino would make his debut to his ninth season on the team on the game they opted to show the Yankees.

It was slow start that lasted four pitches and Severino consistently got stronger, averaging around 96 mph on his 44 four-seam fastballs. And for anyone who watched the game in some form, they witnessed the return of a pitcher who was hitting 97 and 98 in his final innings of outing where he consistently got ahead by throwing first-pitch strikes to 13 of 18 hitters.

“Everything,” Severino told reporters when going through his pitch mix. “I was finding the zone. The changeup was really good. I got some swings on the breaking ball, even that was really good.

He emptied the tank in the fifth because Severino was in line for the win that fell one out shy of happening but the consensus as the Yankees headed back for their biggest regular-season series against the Baltimore Orioles since Labor Day weekend 2012 was that the rotation was on the way back to being somewhat normal again.

“I think we can all agree to say we got a whole lot better today,” center fielder Harrison Bader said to reporters after being on the field with Severino for only the third time since coming over in last year’s trade from St. Louis.

It is hard to argue with Bader’s assessment of a pitcher entering his free agent year and a pitcher who has made 23 starts while signed to a four-year, $40 million extension that was highly deserved at the time. When the deal was signed, Severino was coming off a 19-win season that followed a 14-win campaign in the surprisingly fun 2017 season that saw the Yankees get to Game 7 of the ALCS.

Since then the injuries plagued Severino with the last two being the most frustrating. Severino was annoyed last August when the Yankees stashed him on the 60-day injured list less than a month after injuring his lat following three straight homers off him by the Reds.

“To see his stuff and the way it works, I had a really good view in center field,” Bader said. “Listen man he’s electric. I couldn’t be more happy he’s back. He had a great outing and I’m excited for everything for him moving forward.”

And neither could the Yankees, who beyond the days Gerrit Cole pitches entered Sunday with their rotation producing a 10-12 record and 5.14 ERA. The cause is some occasional struggles by Nestor Cortes, the inconsistencies of Domingo German and Clarke Schmidt along with some of the shaky moments produced by Jhonny Brito as the Yankees waited for Severino to return.

There always was an air of excitement when Severino pitched, going back to his Aug. 5, 2015 debut against the Boston Red Sox as the start of an 11-game contribution to an 87-win team. The excitement grew in the 2018 season and emerged at times last season, notably when Severino combined on a one-hitter against Detroit on June 4, a day after Cole took a perfect game into the seventh.

“Overall, he was sharp,” manager Aaron Boone said.

And now the Yankees are hoping to describe Severino with that adjective about 20 more times, especially as they start tightening up the race in the AL East, which is establishing itself as the best division in baseball.

Severino’s much anticipated return was the perfect capper on a 6-1 road trip that followed up a four-game series featuring three competitive one-run games against the MLB-best Rays.

“I’m excited by how well this team is competing,” Boone said. “Walk in with edge, prepare and compete. They’re doing that at a high level right now.”