Luis Severino impresses in debut, Yankees blow out Angels

Coming into this game, the biggest story was Luis Severino. The Yankees’ pitcher was making his first start in almost a year, and all eyes were on him. With his return now in the rear-view mirror, we can pretty safely say he passed his first test.

Severino threw four scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks while striking out four. He dealt with nerves, rust, maybe both, allowing the first two runners of the game to reach base. However, he proceeded to get a force out and then a double play, and he was off to the races. It was nearly as much as you can ask for from someone coming off a long IL stint who’s on a pitch count.

As for the other half of the game, it turns out the Yankees’ offense is still pretty good.

The Yankees racked up eight runs, six of which came during a monster fourth inning. Gleyber Torres led the way with two hits and three RBI, while the team recorded 10 hits in total. From the second inning on, it was a pretty straightforward 8-0 win over the Angels. The Yankees are now just one victory short of matching last season’s total, and there’s still over a week left in the regular season.

The Yankees opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second. Torres started things off by dropping a single just in front of the left fielder. Luke Voit followed that with a walk, and two batters later, Gio Urshela singled home Torres. Cameron Maybin then doubled to left after Michael Hermosillo got a glove on his long fly ball, but couldn’t complete the catch. That scored Voit, doubling the early lead.

Some similar names were involved when the Yankees added to their advantage in the fourth. With one out, Urshela and Maybin both singled, with Maybin’s hit of the infield variety. Austin Romine then flied out, but it was deep enough to right for Urshela to tag up and move up a base to third. DJ LeMahieu was up next and he did his usual thing, singling home Urshela for another RBI hit.

The big blows were still yet to come. Aaron Judge followed LeMahieu’s single with a walk to load the bases. Didi Gregorius then delivered a double, scoring two. That brought Torres to the plate. On the first pitch he saw, Torres crushed a ball 410 feet over the bullpen in left, taking the lead all the way out to eight runs.

Severino finished things up in the fourth by working around to leadoff single to retire the next three hitters. Following his outing, several members of the Yankees’ bullpen combined to finish off the shutout. Most notably, Jonathan Loaisiga struck out three batters in his two innings.

Some off the field news has put a damper on the win. Strictly looking at the events that happened on the field, though, things went well for the Yankees. Their magic number, at least at time of writing, is now just two.

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