Severino is Back, Baby! Judge & Gleyber Hit HR’s. NY 4 Detroit 1

August 29, 2023 paperbacklou 2023 0
Luis Severino with a HUGE strikeout of Spencer Torkelson to end the 6th with runners on 1st and 2nd, keep it 1-0 NY.

Luis Severino is back, baby.

In his second terrific start in a row, Severino pitched 7 shutout innings, allowing the Tigers only 5 hits, striking out 8 with no walks. Gleyber Torres knocked in Aaron Judge with an RBI double in the 5th, and then Judge and Gleyber went back-to-back and belly-to-belly with homers in the 7th to give NY a 3-0 lead.

Jonathan Loaisiga and Clay Holmes pitched a shutout 8th and 9th. This was the way it was supposed to be all season long. How on earth are the Yanks 11 games back of a Wild Card?

Even Oswaldo Cabrera provided some of the magic he showed last year — going 2 for 3 with an RBI single in the 8th for an insurance run, and making a spectacular play at 3rd base.

In Detroit on a Monday night.

“That’s the guy I’ve watched for years,” said team captain Aaron Judge afterwards about Severino. “Just impressive. Dominating the strike zone. Like I’ve always said, when he has good fastball command, and pounds the zone, he’s one of the best in the game.”

NY improves to 63-68, a whole bunch of games behind everyone in last in the AL East and 11 behind the Wild Card – but still with an opportunity to finish over .500 for the 31st season in a row. Detroit falls to 59-72.

1. Severino Is Back!

Luis Severino was back in command of his fastball, for the 2nd start in a row — and actually he started to improve in the 5-0 loss to Atlanta in the start before that.

When Severino is on his game, the pitching looks effortless, said Yankee announcer Justin Shackil on the radio and Suzyn Waldman agreed.

  • Severino struck out 2 in a 1-2-3 first inning, and motored from there.
  • He allowed a 2-out single in the 2nd on a rocket by Miguel Cabrera back to the mound that hit off him, but then struck out the final batter.
  • Severino struck out the first 2 batters of the 3rd before allowing a triple to 2nd baseman Zach McKinstry, but got the final out.
  • Severino pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 4th and 5th — 5 groundouts and a fly out.
  • He allowed another triple to McKinstry in the 6th, with 1 out. But next batter Riley Greene hit a grounder to Anthony Volpe at shortstop, who threw home to nail McKinstry on a great catch and tag by Kyle Higashioka.

  • Next batter Matt Vierling singled to put 1st and 2nd, 2 out in the 6th. But Severino got a HUGE strikeout of Spencer Torkelson on a 99-MPH four-seam fastball to end the inning and keep it 1-0 NY. Severino ROARED to himself like a Lion as he left the mound.
  • By the bottom of the 7th Severino had a 3-0 lead. He allowed a leadoff single in the 7th, but then got strikeout, ground out, ground out to finish his performance.

Severino with the 7 shutout innings (5 hits; 8 K’s, 0 walks) lowered his ERA from 7.26 to 6.64.

2. Gleyber RBI Double Puts NY Up 1-0

Meanwhile on the other hill 24-year-old Reese Olson was striking out everybody that he got out, in between walking people and allowing singles. He used an 85-MPH slider as his strikeout pitch, setting it up with a 95-MPH four-seam fastball and sinker.

  • In the 1st inning, the skinny 6’1, 160-lb rookie right hander walked DJ LeMahieu, struck out Aaron Judge, walked Gleyber Torres, struck out Giancarlo Stanton, allowed a baserunner on an error by the 1st baseman, and struck out Anthony Volpe to end the inning.
  • In the 2nd inning, Olson allowed a 2-out single to Oswaldo Cabrera but struck out everyone else.
  • In the 3rd inning, Olson struck out the first 2 batters — Judge and Gleyber — before allowing a single to Stanton and then getting Isiah Kiner-Falefa to pop out.
  • Olson struck out 2 in the 4th — allowing a 2-out walk to Oswaldo Cabrera.

Finally in the 5th, the Yanks got to him — Aaron Judge working a 1-out walk, and Gleyber Torres doubling to center to drive him home. Yankees 1 Detroit 0.

And that was it for Reese Olson. Impressive start for him: 4.1 innings, 3 hits, 10 strikeouts, 4 walks.

3. Judge & Gleyber Go Back to Back

It was a tight 1-0 game in the top of the 7th when reliever Beau Brieske came in and struck out Higashioka and LeMahieu to begin the inning.

But Aaron Judge ripped a line drive homer to left for his 29th homer of the year and a 2-0 Yankee lead.

Next batter Gleyber Torres hit a MOON SHOT to left — 434 feet for a 3-0 NY lead.

4. Oswaldo Offense

One of the disappointments of the Yankee season has been the hitting of Oswaldo Cabrera — who was ticketed for left field with Aaron Hicks as backup — but both didn’t hit a lick; Cabrera had a .180 average thru July and was sent back to the minors at one point. Cabrera also didn’t look that sharp as a defensive left fielder.

But in this game Oswaldo’s magic was back. At the plate, he went 2-3 with a walk, and knocked in an insurance run with an RBI single in the top of the 8th.

Despite limited playing time, Oswaldo has quietly raised his average from the .180’s to .212 — in this game going 2-3 with a walk.

5. Oswaldo Defense

Cabrera’s magic was back in the field as well. Playing 3rd, he made a tremendous leaping snare of a line drive by Greene to end the 8th.

6. Loaisiga & Holmes Wrap It

The line drive caught by Oswaldo to end the 8th helped Jonathan Loaisiga, who pitched a 1-2-3 shutout inning.

In the 9th — Clay Holmes came in to provide a touch of agita. He allowed a leadoff homer to Akil Baddoo to make it 4-1, then after going 0-2 on Spencer Torkelson, went 3-2 before Torkelson singled.

‘Here we go again,” were the thoughts of many Yankee fans.

But Holmes got a 4-3 double play — a ground ball up the middle right to Gleyber who took it himself to 2nd to start the double play — the kind of ball Holmes knocked down in the 4-run blown save against Miami that kicked off the 9-game losing streak.

Holmes then struck out Miguel Cabrera for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401472987

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