Pulled From No-Hitter, Luis Severino Keeps 'Bigger Picture' in Mind
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With seven no-hit innings under his belt on Monday night in Texas, Yankees starter Luis Severino descended into New York's dugout. His manager, Aaron Boone, waited for him with pursed lips, placing both hands on the right-hander's shoulders to deliver some bad news.
Boone wasn't going to let Severino back out for the eighth inning. Severino had already thrown 94 pitches against the Rangers, more than the 90 pitches Boone and the coaching staff had planned for the starter to throw in his third outing since returning from the injured list (low grade right lat strain).
It was the right decision, but in the moment, Severino was pissed. With Boone inches in front of him, calmly explaining why he had to take him out, Severino wouldn't look into the skipper's eyes, shifting his weight back and forth while glancing around the dugout and shaking his head.
Sound familiar?
When the Yankees told Severino he had been transferred from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day IL prior to the trade deadline on August 1, amid a sudden barrage of roster moves, the starter was furious.
General manager Brian Cashman recalled trying to walk through Severino's road to recovery, disclosing that the starter refused to look at a calendar, insisting that he was healthy enough to return long before his required 60 days on the sidelines would expire.
In both circumstances, it's easy to understand where Severino was coming from. The 28-year-old is a competitor, a starter that had pitched in just 18 innings from 2019 to 2021 due to multiple significant injuries. All Severino wants to do is pitch, take the baseball every five days and help his team win games. With a chance to throw a no-hitter, it's no surprise Severino wanted to stay out there.
That said, it's also clear why the Yankees made both decisions, albeit tough ones. They gave Severino extra time to ramp up to make sure that he would return as the best version of himself, staying healthy and effective for the stretch run. On Monday, Boone stuck to the predetermined plan in Severino's pitch count, making the starter's health for the month of October a priority over his pursuit of a no-hitter in a meaningless regular season game.
While the playoffs haven't started yet, it's looking like New York made the right call moving Severino to the 60-day injured list. Since his return to the active roster, the right-hander has a 1.69 ERA in three starts, flashing the electric stuff that allowed him to blossom as this club's ace back in 2017 and 2018.
"I was not thrilled with the decision, but at the end, they only want the best for me," Severino said on Monday. "They want me to be ready in the postseason, be healthy in the postseason. When they told me, I didn't think it was a great idea. But right now, I feel very good and feel fresh for the postseason."
Severino was effortlessly lighting up the radar gun on Monday, using his three-pitch mix to dominate Texas' lineup. Getting six more outs to finish the no-hitter would've required quite a few additional high-stress bullets, putting that freshness in jeopardy.
Even if the right-hander was "1,000 percent" confident that he would've finished off the no-no if he had the chance—his catcher Kyle Higashioka and Boone both agreed—the veteran understood that this was part of that "bigger picture," as he called it.
"Nobody wants to go out and have somebody take you out in that situation, but I understand I've been out for a couple months," he said. "I think it was a good decision. I don't want to go out there and hurt myself and not be good for the postseason."
If Severino can carry the momentum from Monday's start into the playoffs, he'll provide an unquantifiable boost to a starting rotation that already includes Gerrit Cole and Nestor Cortes. Considering the injuries that New York has endured in their bullpen, this team needs their three-headed monster at the top of the starting staff to pitch to their potential if they want to be the last team standing this fall.
So even if Severino lost out on a chunk of outings this summer, relegated to the injured list, and even if he wasn't able to finish off a bid at history in his final outing of the regular season, he's now in a position to help his team when it matters most. After all, the best way to forget about what he missed out on during the regular season would be to hoist a trophy in about a month's time.
"He's always lived for the big moments. He's come through many times for us in those moments, and it's just who he is as a player. He thrives in that situation," Higashioka said. "This is a good warm up for the postseason for him and he had his best stuff today. I really like what I'm seeing."
MORE:
- Aroldis Chapman Loses Control in Postseason Audition
- How Yankees' Matt Carpenter Is Positioning Himself For Postseason Return
- Yankees' Ron Marinaccio Exits Game With Injury Scare
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