New York Yankees @ Los Angeles Angels: Luis Severino vs. Griffin Canning

The Yankees bullpen snatched defeat from the jaws of victory last night as every button Aaron Boone pressed seem to blow up in his face. It was the type of deflating loss that can let the remaining air out of their Wild Card push so it’s doubly important that everyone turns the page and focuses on the task at hand. Tonight, that means starting a three-game series against the Angels on the right foot.

Luis Severino is running out of time to convince the team that he deserves to keep a spot in the rotation. Outside of some brief flashes, Sevy has looked miles from the pitcher we hope we’d get when he returned from injury. Strikeouts are down while walks and home runs are up, leading him to give up seven runs in three of his nine starts. One possible culprit is the lack of a vertical weapon in his arsenal, something Noah investigated on Saturday. In nine starts, Severino is 1-4 with a 7.38 ERA (57 ERA+), 6.38 FIP, and 37 strikeouts in 42.2 innings.

Griffin Canning is slowly working his way back after missing all of 2022 with a stress fracture in his lower back. He gives up some of the hardest contact of any starting pitcher so I expect the Yankees hitters to be aggressive tonight. He throws a mid-90s four-seamer and high-80s slider each about a third of the time, rounding out his repertoire with a changeup and curveball. In 14 starts, Canning is 6-4 with a 4.62 ERA (96 ERA+), 5.05 FIP, and 71 strikeouts in 74 innings.

The lone encouraging takeaway from the Rockies series is that several members of the Yankees lineup are starting to heat up. Gleyber Torres, Giancarlo Stanton, and DJ LeMahieu started the second half strong, leading to the Bombers scoring six and seven runs in the final two games of the series, albeit at Coors Field against the worst pitching staff in the NL. LeMahieu gets the night off, but it’s encouraging to see Oswald Peraza get a runout in the bigs with Josh Donaldson back on the IL. He leads off and plays third, while further down the lineup, Oswaldo Cabrera earns another start in right following his two-hit, two-walk performance on Sunday.

The Angels lineup is without Mike Trout while he recovers from surgery to fix a broken hamate bone in his left hand, but there’s still plenty of pop for Severino to contend with. Shohei Ohtani commands the spotlight having launched his league-leading 34th home run yesterday and with his name surfacing in trade rumors. Erstwhile Phillies prospect Mickey Moniak is finally delivering on his top overall draft pick pedigree and has a 169 wRC+ in 41 games. There’s also a pair of new faces from the last time the two sides met, Mike Moustakas playing third and Eduardo Escobar playing second after the Angels acquired the pair last month from the Rockies and Mets, respectively. Finally, rookie first baseman Trey Cabbage has been immediately productive since his debut on Friday so he’ll be another to watch.

How to watch

Location: Angel Stadium — Anaheim, CA

First pitch: 9:38 pm ET

TV broadcast: YES – NYY / Bally Sports West - LAA

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9, WADO 1280

Online stream: MLB.tv

For updates, follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.