In his 2nd start of the season, Luis Severino looked spectacular — pitching 1-hit ball into the 7th inning — the lone hit a homer by Fernando Tatis Jr.
He was locked all afternoon in a pitchers’ duel with Michael Wacha — and left due to his pitch count limit after an error by Gleyber Torres with 2 outs in the 7th — the score tied 1-1. A run came in against reliever Michael King in that inning — but DJ LeMahieu saved the say with a homer off Wacha in the bottom of the 7th, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa walked it off with an RBI hit down the line in the bottom of the 10th.
On a beautiful, sunny, 75-degree Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
‘Feels good — I think it’s my first walk off as a Yankee. Feels Great,” said Kiner-Falefa afterwards. “This is an electric place. We feed off the energy, and those guys (the fans) were with us all day today.”
“You get character reveals all the time from people in this game,” said Aaron Boone about Kiner-Falefa. “Because you’re going to face rough waters; you’re going to face adversity. What it’s revealed (in IKF) is a guy who wants to got out and be part of a team, be part of a winning team, and be part of it here, and stick his nose in there and get better all the time. He’s done defensive work behind the plate — so he’s ready for that if it comes up. Just a credit to him and the character he’s shown us ever since we got him.”
One couldn’t help think if Aaron Hicks was being referred to at all by Boone.
NY breaks their 3-game losing streak and improves to 31-23, 7 game back of Tampa. The Padres fall to 24-28, 7.5 behind the Dodgers.
1. LeMahieu Puts Yanks On Top
Michael Wacha came in with a 5-1 3.58 record and he has often given the Yankees fits in the past, when he was with Boston. When he is on his game he is tough to hit; when he is off, he is very hittable.
It was the later Wacha NY saw starting off the game — and they tee-d off — a 1-out single by Aaron Judge, single by Anthony Rizzo and double by DJ LeMahieu to score Judge but Rizzo was sent from 3rd and was thrown out at the plate.
DJ LeMahieu drives in Aaron Judge, Yankees lead 1-0!#YANKSonYES LIVE https://t.co/aRu5PF6QsA pic.twitter.com/9IYe60P8kO
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) May 27, 2023
A 1-0 Yankee lead but blown opportunity. Wacha struck out Harrison Bader to end the 1st and then turned into the other Wacha — the one who is tough to hit. Cutters, curves, changeups, and a 92-MPH fastball intermixed to keep the Yanks off balance.
Lots of groundouts, popups, some fly outs and strike outs, and 1-2-3 innings followed: Wacha pitched shutout ball from the 2nd through the 6th.
2. Severino Spectacular
Meanwhile Luis Severino was spectacular on the other hill. Throwing 98-MPH HEAT and intermixing awesome 81-MPH sliders and 86-MPH changeups.
Sevy was electric. pic.twitter.com/BjyANwB82P
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 27, 2023
“He’s a front line starter,” said manager Aaron Boone when asked about the importance of having Sevy back. “He’s a front line guy. When he’s on the mound, he can match up against anyone in the league, and any offense in the league.”
Severino had a shutout going into the 4th when Tatis hit an 86-MPH slider for a homer and a 1-1- tie.
Severino continued to dominate into the 7th — pitching with overwhelming efficiency — when a 2-out walk, then the error by Gleyber Torres booting a grounder sent him from the game. The Gleyber error denied Severino the chance go to 7 innings and put himself in line for a win if the Yanks scored in the bottom of the 7th (which they did).
Instead, Michael King came in and allowed an RBI single to shortstop Ha-Seong Kim and Severino was looking at a loss.
3. LeMahieu Heroic Again
But DJ LeMahieu saved the day with a 1-out in the bottom of the 7th by ripping one of those 91-MPH fastballs from Wacha into the right centerfield stands for a tie game.
LeMahieu Laser. pic.twitter.com/eGSAhBSTKR
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 27, 2023
4. King-Wandy-Holmes Fantastic
King got the first 2 outs of the 8th, but after a walk was relieved by Wandy Peralta — who allowed a single himself but got out of the jam with a groundout.
Wandy then pitched a beautiful 9th — allowing a runner on a walk but picking him off 1st.
Clay Holmes then pitched a filthy 10th inning — stranding the runner on 2nd by getting Aaron Nola on a short fly to right (after Nola had faked bunt on the first pitch), then striking out Roughned Odor, and getting Fernando Tatis Jr.to groundout. Phew.
5. Kiner-Falefa Walks It Off
And then to the bottom of the 10th with Greg Allen pinch-running as the inherited runner and Nick Martinez pitching for the Padres. Martinez intentionally walked DJ LeMahieu — the Yanks hitting star of the day to that point.
Harrison Bader bunted to 3rd — Greg Allen going to 3rd and the Padres opting to get the runner on 2nd. Bader did his job.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa then stepped up and ripped 2-0 changeup for a double just inside the line at 3rd for the old ballgame!
Weekend walk-off courtesy of IKF 😎 pic.twitter.com/57EHLgLOAU
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 27, 2023
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