/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/49591819/usa-today-9293245.0.jpg)
Whatever can go wrong, will. The Yankees are an example of Murphy's Law playing out right before our very eyes so far in 2016. Luis Severino is injured to an unknown degree at the moment, and the Yankees' offense looked every bit as inept as you'd expect them to against Chris Sale. Baseball is dark and full of terrors.
The first inning went okay enough for Severino, but things quickly began to fall apart in the second. Alex Avila doubled home a run to put Chicago on the board, then Jose Abreu singled to drive home two more. The Yankees got one of those runs back when Chase Headley of extreme extra-base hit drought fame homered off one of the best pitchers in baseball. This is why John Sterling says you can't predict baseball.
Severino surrendered a two-run double to Adam Eaton before allowing a two-run homer to Jimmy Rollins. This put the offense in a hole it would not be able to climb out of. Perhaps more importantly, however, this is when the Yankees removed Severino from the game with what they are calling soreness in the back of his right elbow. He's headed for an MRI to determine the cause.
Aside from the fact that losing Severino would dip further into the Yankees' virtually non-existent starting pitching depth, the fact that he was injured so early in the game forced the bullpen into action. Michael Kay perhaps put it best when he said that these are relief innings you can't get back. The Yankee relievers have been so overworked already this season, and it seems like they are forced to get more outs than is healthy on a regular basis.
Relief arms are not in short supply, but the Yankees are having to use a lot of innings on arms they'd like to have with them down the stretch. Maybe it's too soon to worry about that in mid-May, but the fact that we ARE worrying about it in mid-May should be reason for concern, if that makes sense.
The bullpen performed brilliantly, despite having to enter the game so soon. Nick Goody gave the team 3.1 innings of scoreless relief before turning it over to Chasen Shreve for two more scoreless innings. Kirby Yates allowed one hit and one walk in his inning of relief, but he too held the White Sox off the scoreboard.
Unfortunately, the offense never managed to do anything off Sale. He pitched a complete game and went to 8-0 on the season. Joe Girardi stacked his lineup with hitters who had the best chance against the tough lefty, but even that wasn't enough. As much as we've seen the offense struggle against much easier pitchers than Sale this year, the result isn't actually surprising.
So now we wait for the results of Severino's MRI. What it tells us will have a pretty huge impact on the rotation going forward, especially if the news is as bad as we fear it might be. Losing a game is one thing, but losing players always pours salt in that wound.