Another Day Another Win. Severino Shines. NY 4 Cincinnati 1

It was another day, another win for the Yankees — their 4th in a row, sweeping the Reds in Cincinnati — and improving their record to 11-3 in their last 14 games, and 29-20 overall — 5.5 behind Tampa.

Aaron Judge — who was 4-4 the previous game and had hit 7 homers in the 7 games prior to that — sat and rested. Because of course who needed him. He was on an assigned rest day even though the Yankees had the next day (Monday) off.

The Yanks were up against Hunter Greene, one of the best young fireballers in the National League. Manager Aaron Boone would surely be trending on Twitter if NY lost this one — and the Yanks were getting shutout into the 5th inning. But they managed to get to Greene — homers by Harrison Bader and Gleyber Torres, and a clutch 2-out RBI double by Anthony Volpe — to get just enough runs for the win.

Meanwhile more good news: Luis Severino started for NY and he looked terrific — leaving in the 5th at a 75-pitch limit.

The Yankee bullpen was brilliant again — Albert Abreu, Jimmy Cordero, Wandy Peralta, and Clay Holmes all pitching shutout ball — although Holmes gave everyone agita with a bases loaded 9th before getting the final out.

“I thought he kept getting better,” said Boone about Severino. “I thought his misses were good misses. I thought the umpire had a really good strike zone. I thought (Severino) was in and around the corners. Overall he was sharp.”

The game started at 11:30am on a Sunday morning due to it being exclusively broadcast by the Peacock network — a streaming service of NBC.

1. Mr. Greene

Hunter Greene is a 23-year-old, 6’5 righty who throws over 100 MPH and threw it in high school which caused him to make the cover of Sports Illustrated back then. He was the #2 overall pick in the 2017 draft.

Cincinnati has been waiting for him to arrive — which he did last year — a 5-13 4.44 record on a Reds team that went 62-100. He came into this game 0-3 4.60 — although sports researcher James Smyth suggested to “throw that 4.60 ERA out the window, he’s been very unfortunate with a .398 BABIP that’s the highest against any pitcher with 40+ innings this year.”

BABIP is Batting Average on Balls In Play. Its formula: Hits minus home runs, divided by at-bats minus home runs minus strikeouts plus sacrifice flies.

In formula, BABIP = (H – HR)/(AB – HR – K + SF).

In this game, Mr. Greene looked very good early — pitching a shutout into the 5th — allowing only one hit — a single to lefty Willie Calhoun in the 2nd. Mr. Greene was en route to 10 strikeouts.

2. Mr. Bader Gets to Mr. Greene

But in the 5th, Willie Calhoun reached on Mr. Greene again — leading off with a walk.

Suzyn Waldman and Justin Shakil on the radio broadcast then did a terrific job jinxing Greene — waxing poetic about him — about how he threw triple digits and was on the cover on Sports Illustrated in high school, has a foundation to help kids, writes poetry — and BOOM homerun Harrison Bader! Yankees 2 Reds 1.

There would be more.

3. Severino Brilliant

The 2 runs gave Luis Severino the lead heading into the bottom of the 5th. Severino allowed a controversial run in the 1st inning, when with Jonathan India on 1st and 2 outs, Spencer Steer hit a fly to right that Jake Bauers tried make a running catch on by the foul line — he didn’t get it but it was ruled a foul ball.

On replay — it was clearly a fair ball — and the umps allowed the runner from 1st to score. Manager Aaron Boone vehemently protested — saying the 1st base ump ruled it a foul ball — which caused Bauers to take his time picking up the ball — and the runner should move only 2 bases to 3rd base.

Boone was tossed for arguing. It was not yet noontime — the game having had the early start at 11:30 am. It might have set a record for earliest ejection by a manager; nobody was sure.

Severino allowed 2 singles in the 2nd — but picked the first batter — Stuart Fairchild — off 1st. Severino pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 3rd and 4th.

Severino was motoring thru the 5th — a strike away from retiring the side and being in position for the win.

Then Suzyn Waldman got her jinx out again — waxing poetic about how Severino was going to go 5 innings and be in position for a win at just under the 75-pitch limit that had been set for him; she enthused that it was as if everything was going right to script.

As she was saying all that, Luke Maile fouled off a couple of 1-2 pitches, then a ball, and then a bloop hit and Severino was gone at the 75-pitch limit and no chance for a win.

4. Mr. Gleyber Gets to Mr. Greene

In the 6th, Gleyber Torres caught up to a Hunter Greene 96-MPH fastball for a 373-foot solo homer to right and 3-1 Yankee lead.

5. Mr. Allen & Mr. Volpe Get to Mr. Greene

In the 7th, Hunter Greene got the first 2 outs, but Jake Bauers walked. Greg Allen came in to run for him — and immediately stole 2nd base.

Allen then scampered to 3rd when the catcher dropped the ball momentarily on a pitch.

Anthony Volpe then ripped an 89-MPH slider for a 2-out double and 4-1 Yankee lead.

“And a lot of that happens because of Greg Allen,” said Suzyn Waldman on the broadcast. “He steals 2nd. He steals 3rd. And it just kind of takes a little bit of your concentration off.”

6. Yankee Bullpen Brilliant

The Yank bullpen was brilliant again — 3.1 shutout innings.

  • Albert Abreu got the last out of the 5th, and pitched an impressive shutout 6th — groundout, flyout, strikeout.
  • Jimmy Cordero pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 7th.
  • Wandy Peralta pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 8th — 3 straight groundouts.
  • And Clay Holmes gave everyone agita in the 9th — flyout, single, single, strikeout, walk to load the bases with 2 outs — then groundout — a comebacker to Homes — for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401471719

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