Sevy's short start gives bullpen big challenge
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NEW YORK -- The number that stands out from Luis Severino’s final pitching line Tuesday night in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series wasn’t the two runs he gave up to the Astros. It was the 4 1/3 innings pitched in the Yankees’ 4-1 loss.
For the second game in a row, the Yankees were unable to get any length from their starting pitcher, forcing their vaunted bullpen to carry the load for more than half of the game. New York’s relief corps has been one of the club’s greatest strengths this season, but if the bullpen continues to be overused, can the Yanks come back to win three of the next four games to advance to the World Series?
| Game | Date | Result | Highlights |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gm 1 | Oct. 12 | NYY 7, HOU 0 | Watch |
| Gm 2 | Oct. 13 | HOU 3, NYY 2 (11) | Watch |
| Gm 3 | Oct. 15 | HOU 4, NYY 1 | Watch |
| Gm 4 | Oct. 17 | HOU 8, NYY 3 | Watch |
| Gm 5 | Oct. 18 | NYY 4, HOU 1 | Watch |
| Gm 6 | Oct. 19 | HOU 6, NYY 4 | Watch |
Shop for postseason gear: “We're going to need some length,” manager Aaron Boone said after the Yankees fell behind, 2-1, in the series.
James Paxton lasted just 2 1/3 innings in Game 2, while Severino failed to get through the fifth in Game 3. The latter might not come as much of a surprise; Severino has pitched fewer than five innings in seven of his eight career postseason starts, a disturbing trend for a pitcher considered by many in recent years to be the team’s ace.
Both runs against Severino came on solo home runs, as Jose Altuve took him deep in the first inning and Josh Reddick did the same in the second, both on hanging sliders. But the right-hander found himself in trouble aside from the homers, loading the bases in the first while putting a runner in scoring position in the second, fourth and fifth.
Severino worked out of the jams, but a 36-pitch first inning and a 26-pitch second left him in bad shape when it came to getting the Yanks deep into the ballgame.
“Taking out those two pitches, those sliders, I felt pretty good,” Severino said. “I feel after that, I made good pitches. I wanted to stay out there longer.”
But with his pitch count at 97 with one out and two men on base in the fifth, Severino’s night was over.
“[Severino] really had to labor there in that first inning, 36 pitches, then had to work really hard in the second inning,” Boone said. “I actually thought he settled in. As the night went on, I thought he got stronger. I thought overall, he competed really well.”
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With Game 4 postponed to Thursday due to Wednesday's forecast, Friday’s off-day has been erased, meaning the Yankees would need to win three games in four days to get past the Astros.
Masahiro Tanaka, who threw six pristine innings in Game 1, will likely take the ball in Game 4 now that it’s been pushed to Thursday. After that, New York will need to start Paxton in either Game 5 or 6, going with a bullpen game in the other.
Theoretically, the Yanks’ staff should be good enough to handle that task. But with losing the off-day between Games 5 and 6, the bullpen could be asked to do something it hasn’t done all season in terms of workload.
“It’s not like it’s anything crazy,” Chad Green said. “We make a big deal out of it now; we’re supposed to have off-days, but we play four games in a row all the time. It shouldn’t be a big deal.”
Or should it be?
No Yankees reliever pitched on three consecutive days all season, making them the only team in Major League Baseball that could make that claim. The depth of the bullpen allowed Boone the luxury of giving his guys forced rest days, but the potential schedule -- combined with the 2-1 deficit and the fact that neither Paxton nor Severino have been able to pitch deep into a game -- sets up a daunting task for the Yanks.
“I think you know that you might have to pitch in every game, but it’s something that at this time of the year, you just do it,” Green said. “You try not to overthink it and think, ‘I’ve never done this before.’ You just do it. It’s kind of the only mindset to take. I don’t think you can worry about, ‘I’m tired, I’ve pitched three days in a row,’ or, ‘I’ve thrown X amount of pitches one day.’ It’s just kind of, take the ball when your name is called and see what happens.”
Even in their three-game sweep of the Twins in the AL Division Series, Yankees starters averaged just over 4 1/3 innings per start. Tanaka is the lone starter to record as many as 15 outs, pitching five innings in his ALDS start and six in Game 1 of this series.
By comparison, the Astros have gotten at least six innings from their three starters in six of their eight postseason games.
“They’ve made our starters work so far,” Green said. “They’ve put together some good at-bats; that’s just the way it is. We don’t look at it like we need our starters to throw six innings to win a game. We’re prepared to throw every day. If that’s what happens, so be it.”
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Tommy Kahnle (5 2/3 innings) and Zack Britton (5 1/3 innings) have each appeared in five of the Yanks’ six postseason games, while the struggling Adam Ottavino has pitched in all six. Green has taken the ball in four, though he’s been limited to eight pitches in two of those outings.
If New York can’t get better efforts from Paxton and Severino, the bullpen could be called on to save the season in a way few bullpens have ever been asked before.
“I'm confident that they can get us deeper into the game,” Boone said.
For the Yankees’ sake, he better hope he’s right.