Luis #Severino Loses Pitchers’ Duel, 2-1, in Major league Debut

Luis #Severino Loses Pitchers’ Duel, 2-1, in Major league Debut

By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, (BRONX NEWS)- The two young starters, Steven Wright of the Red Sox and Luis Severino of the Yanks, pitched very impressively on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium. 

Severino, Baseball America’s selection as the Yankees top prospect, was making his major league debut. At 21 years and 166 days, Severino is the youngest player to start a game in the majors this season. He is the 50th player to be used by the Yanks this season.

The native of the Dominican Republic was signed by the Yankees as a minor league free agent on July 20, 2012. He started 46 of his 48 games in the minors. He pitched for the World Team in the 2014 Futures Game, and was 9-2 with a 2.45 ERA in 19 minor league starts in 2015. The youngster was especially effective in his 11 starts with AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, going 7-0 with a 1.91 ERA.

Neither pitcher was awed by the exceptionally large crowd of 47,489 or by the pressure of the rivalry between New York and Boston. Severino gave up his first hit, a double by Alejandro de Aza with two out in the second. The only other hit he surrendered was a lead-off home run by David Ortiz in the fourth. The home run accounted for the only earned run given up by the neophyte in the five innings he pitched. The 21 year old remarked regarding the four bagger, “When you miss a pitch [in MLB] you pay for it.”

His most exciting moment of the day was “when I got out of the bullpen and walked to the mound.”

Severino’s appearance was a very rare one. He was the first pitcher in the history of the American League who in his major league debut gave up only two hits or less, walked no batters and fanned seven. Only five National League hurlers since 1900 accomplished the same feat. 

Yankee manager Joe Girardi spoke very favorably of Severino’s appearance, “He’s got velocity. He’s got a live arm. He can make some quality pitches.”

When asked if he believes he can pitch successfully in the minors, Severinno replied, “Of course.”

He will almost certainly have that opportunity as earlier in the day, General Manager Brian Cashman announced that Yankee starter Michael Pineda is not expected to pitch again until September. 

Wright in his 10th major league start easily handled the Yankees batters. He won his second straight game with career highs of eight innings and nine strikeouts. He gave up only four hits and two walks. The only run he yielded was on a lead-off home run by Carlos Beltran in the seventh. It was the 11th straight contest in which a Yankee homered. 

Mark Teixeira singled in the ninth off closer Koji Uehara to extend his streak of reaching base safely to 22 games. The hot hitting first sacker praised Wright, “That’s about as good as you can throw a knuckleball.”

#Yankees #LuisSeverino #RedSox