Yankees 3, Padres 2: Sevy gem rescued by IKF walk-off in extras

This game saw a return of the grit and fight that had been missing over the previous few contests. Luis Severino gave the Yankees 6.2 strong innings and looked downright unhittable at times while DJ LeMahieu accounted for two of his team’s three runs. Isiah Kiner-Falefa capped off the comeback effort with a walk-off single in the 10th as the Bombers narrowly take the middle game, 3-2, snapping a three-game skid.

Severino came charging out of the gates, going right after the potent top of the Padres order with high-octane heat. He collected a pair of strikeouts, painting his fastball and then slider to punch out Fernando Tatis Jr. and Juan Soto respectively, both looking.

The Yankees’ bats matched their starter’s energy, Aaron Judge kicking things off with a 114.6-mph single to right, his first career hit off San Diego starter Michael Wacha, a familiar foe. Anthony Rizzo followed with a single to put runners on the corners with one out for LeMahieu.

The three-time All-Star may be scuffling a bit of late, but he laced a double down the left field line to plate Judge:

A questionable send of Rizzo by third-base coach Luis Rojas saw him gunned down at the plate, albeit requiring a perfect throw and relay from the Padres. Harrison Bader struck out to strand LeMahieu at third, and it was hard not to feel like the Yankees missed an opportunity to hang a crooked number against a pitcher who has bedeviled them over the last three years.

Severino was really feeling himself in a third inning that mirrored the first: one pitch, one out to start things off followed by strikeouts of the final two batters. He blew 99 right by Ha-Seong Kim before making Brett Sullivan look silly whiffing over the top of a filthy slider. Wacha meanwhile settled into the outing following the first, requiring just 17 pitches combined to retire the side in order in the second and third.

The boos for Tatis continued to rain down from the stands, but just like last night, they did not appear to be working. He launched a hanging slider from Severino into the visitor’s bullpen for his second home run in as many days to level the score at one apiece.

Severino’s command wavered a tad after the Tatis bomb, but a well-timed mound visit from Matt Blake settled his starter down, and he was able to execute four pinpoint fastballs to strikeout Brandon Dixon, three of them touching triple digits. Tatis’ homer turned out to be the only hit that the resurgent right-hander allowed on the afternoon.

It was encouraging to see Severino settle back into his groove after that fourth inning. He allowed just one baserunner across the next two frames, a walk to Kim, requiring a mere 19 pitches to complete the fifth and sixth. His counterpart was also cruising at this point, with Wacha giving up a solitary single to Bader in the fifth but otherwise mowing through the Yankees lineup with ease through six.

Severino came back out for the seventh with his pitch count in good shape. At just 70 pitches and with a reported leash of around 85-90, there was a real chance he could go seven strong for the first time since his seven no-hit innings in his final regular season start of 2022. After inducing two fly outs, a walk to Nelson Cruz prompted Aaron Boone to stroll from the dugout, however Severino fought to stay in the game and was granted the opportunity. He executed just the pitch he needed, getting Grisham to weakly roll over a changeup, but Gleyber Torres booted the ball to end Severino’s outing.

As if to punish the Yankees for awarding them an extra out, Kim ripped a single on the first pitch he saw from Michael King, plating Azocar to give the Padres their first lead, 2-1. No further runs would score, wrapping up Severino’s final line for the outing: 6.2 innings, one hit, two runs (one earned), three walks and five strikeouts on 82 pitches.

The bottom half of the Yankees offense continues to struggle mightily. They went a combined 0-for-9 against Wacha, with the 31-year-old righty requiring just 36 pitches to convert all nine outs against the quartet.

LeMahieu on the other hand seemed determined to reward his starting pitcher’s sterling performance. Following his RBI double in the first, the third baseman responded immediately to the Padres taking the lead, going oppo on an elevated fastball for a solo shot that sailed 374 feet to level the score at two — his sixth home run of the year.

Wacha completed the frame to end his outing at seven innings of two-run ball on five hits. The Yankees’ continued struggles against literally Michael Wacha is certainly one of the frustrating developments of the last few years, but at least they managed to tie things up.

Facing reliever Nick Martinez, Oswaldo Cabrera led off the eighth with a single, but inexplicably failed to tag up on a Kyle Higashioka deep fly ball that would’ve been a home run in 26 out of 30 MLB parks. He was immediately punished for this lapse in concentration, as Anthony Volpe grounded into the inning-ending double play a pitch after narrowly missing a home run foul down the right-field line.

Wandy Peralta pitched 1.1 scoreless to give the top of the order a chance to walk it off in the bottom of the ninth. Torres started things off with a single but was immediately erased by a Judge GIDP, followed by a Rizzo strikeout to send the game to extras.

Clay Holmes came in for the 10th and needed just eight pitches to complete the frame, aided by a slick barehand from LeMahieu and accurate throw to gun down Tatis at first — a play which require video replay to eventually return the correct call.

This gave the Yankees a second opportunity to walk it off, and this time they didn’t waste it.

The Padres walked LeMahieu intentionally to give themselves a chance at a double play. Seeing this, Bader laid down a bunt that almost ended in disaster, with LeMahieu getting thrown out at second and Bader barely beating out the throw at first to keep the possibility of a sac fly in order. IKF needed none of that, however, smoking a single past a diving Odor at third to plate pinch-runner Greg Allen from third for the 3-2 walk-off victory.

The Yankees go for the series victory tomorrow with Gerrit Cole facing Yu Darvish in a mouth-watering matchup of staff aces. First pitch is scheduled for 1:35pm ET so be sure to join us in the game thread.

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