Yankees waste Luis Severino’s best start in months, nearly get no-hit by the Twins

I cannot overstate how much this team misses Aaron Judge. Last week, the Yankees were hitless until the sixth inning against the Athletics, but they didn’t get their first hit tonight until dangerously late. Jake Odorizzi was rolling, and it wasn’t until the eighth inning that the offense finally got to him. They still ended up losing, but at least they weren’t no-hit! Consider it a small victory.

It’s no secret that Luis Severino has struggled immensely during the second half of the season. One of the few positive takeaways from this game is that Sevy was much better tonight. In fact, he gave up just one hit through the first five innings. His sliders and changeups looked good, and he was being quite efficient with his pitches. He got into trouble in the sixth though, giving up two singles and a double. Sevy struck out Jorge Polanco for the second out and that was the end of his night. He tried to fight off Aaron Boone, but David Robertson recorded the final out of the bottom half.

It was rude of the Yankees to waste this good Sevy outing by denying him run support. Through the first seven innings, they had exactly two baserunners: Giancarlo Stanton and Gary Sanchez. Odorizzi walked both players. Sanchez even got into scoring position after he hilariously stole second base (his first stolen base of the season!), but he was left stranded.

Finally, the Yankees got on board in the eighth inning. Sanchez struck out to start things off, then Luke Voit worked a walk. Swinging at the first pitch, Greg Bird drilled an RBI double to left and Yankees fans everywhere breathed a sigh of relief. That one run ended up being all the Bombers could muster.

The Twins tacked on two more runs in the seventh off of Robertson. With two outs, pesky Jake Cave doubled to right, and Willians Astudillo knocked an RBI up the middle. Max Kepler followed with a double that sent the catcher home all the way from first. That was at least entertaining.

The Yankees head back to New York tonight, and an off day awaits them tomorrow. Their lead over the Athletics for the top Wild Card spot has vanished, so it’s time to regroup and shake off this series. Masahiro Tanaka will start Friday’s game against the Blue Jays at 7:05 ET.