Luis Severino came in with a 6.48 ERA after 2 starts — although he hadn’t pitched as bad as that. Still, the former Yank is in the 2nd year of a 3-year, $22M-a-yr contract with the A’s, and after going 8-11 4.54 last year, he has been a disappointment so far for the homeless, penny-pinching A’s.
And the first thing the Yanks did was rip him apart in the bottom of the 1st, with consecutive singles by the first 3 NY batters — Trent Grisham, Aaron Judge, and Cody Bellinger — for a run. Severino then struck out 2 batters, but walked Ben Rice and Jazz Chisholm Jr. to force in another run and make it 2-0 NY.
And then… Severino climbed off the ropes, striking out Amed Rosario to strand the bases loaded, and proceed to rope-a-dope the Yankee lineup — working around 3 more walks and pitch shutout ball through the 5th inning.
The runs in the 1st ended up being the only 2 runs the Yanks got on the evening, as the A’s bullpen shut them out too. Will Warren matched Severino with 4.2 innings of 2-run ball, and the Yank middle relievers did well, but David Bednar blinked in the 9th, allowing a run, and NY went down to defeat, 3-2 on a COLD Wednesday night in the Bronx, temps in the high 30’s.
“The story was we just didn’t score when we had a chance to throw a knockout punch early,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “We couldn’t break through, and then they held us down.”
“He’s got great stuff, and he didn’t flinch,” added Boone about Severino. “That’s one of those areas where guys can fold a little there, especially here when we get it rolling. Credit to him he buckled down. He didn’t give in at all, and work around some walks.”
On Warren, Boone said, “Overall he was pretty good — they made him work there a bit in the 4th and 5th inning to drive up his pitch count. But in the end, 2 runs and gave us a chance to win a baseball game. Overall pretty good.”
NY falls to 8-3; the homeless A’s improve to 4-7.
1. Severino Off the Ropes
This looked like it would be a blowout at the start, as the first 3 Yankee batters — Chisholm, Judge, and Bellinger — got single, single, single for a run.
Belli gets the scoring started ? pic.twitter.com/jlrso3NAbx
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 8, 2026
Severino then struck out Ben Rice and Giancarlo Stanton, but walked Jazz Chisholm Jr. and JC Escarra for another run. NY 2 Oakland 0, bases still loaded.
But Severino struck out righty Amed Rosario to climb off the ropes.
Severino then rope-a-doped the Yankee lineup through the 5th. He:
- Walked Ryan McMahon — playing shortstop for the Yanks — to lead off the 2nd, but struck out Trent Grisham and got Aaron Judge to hit into a double play.
- Threw a 1-2-3 inning in the 3rd,
- Worked the ropes again in the 4th — walking Chisholm to start the inning, then a 1-out single to Amed Rosario — but got McMahon to ground into an inning-ending double play.
- Walked Grisham to lead off the 5th — but again reared back and got 3 straight outs to end his performance: 5 IP, 4 hits, 7 K’s, 5 walks, 2 runs. He lowered his ERA to 5.40.
2. Warren Pitched Well
Meanwhile Will Warren pitched well, throwing a shutout first 3 innings while scattering a walk and 2 singles.
Smooth Jazz ? pic.twitter.com/CTR2kXp8yV
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 9, 2026
But in the 4th, after getting the first 2 outs, Warren allowed 3 consecutive singles — to Lawrence Butler, Max Muncy, and Jeff McNeil — for a run like Severino had to start the game. Warren then walked Carlos Cortes to load the bases, and threw a wild pitch for a run and 2-2 tie, before striking out Nick Kurtz with the bases loaded to climb off his ropes.
In the 5th, Warren worked around a 1-out error by Ben Rice and a walk to Brent Rooker — getting Jacob Wilson to fly out and leaving for Tim Hill who got the final out.
3. Yank Middle Relievers Shut Out A’s
Tim Hill stayed in to pitch a shutout 6th.
Good news — Camilo Doval pitched a shutout 7th — getting 4 outs — working around a 2-out throwing error by Rosario at 3rd. Doval had pitched poorly his prior 2 outings, with control issues but not this night.
Brent Headrick pitched a shutout 8th.
4. A’s Middle Relievers Shut Out Yanks
Meanwhile the A’s reliever shut the Yanks out:
- Scott Barlow retired 5 straight batters, pitching a 1-2-3 inning in the 6th and striking out the first 2 batters of the 7th.
- Hogan Harris came in with 2 outs in the 7th and walked Trent Grisham and Aaron Judge, but struck out Bellinger to end the inning.
- Harris struck out Rice to start the 8th, and Elvis Alvarado came in to get the next 2 outs.
5. Bednar Blinks in 9th; Kuhnel Doesn’t
With the score 2-2 — David Bednar blinked in the 9th, allowing a leadoff single to Kurtz, double by Shea Langeliers, and 1-out sacy fly to Rooker for a 3-2 A’s lead.
And Joel Kuhnel came in for the A’s in the bottom of the 9th, and got ground out, ground out, strikeout (of McMahon) for the old ballgame.
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