Luis Severino again hit hard as Orioles rout Yankees, 14-1

There’s no two ways about it: Luis Severino is a complete mess.

And neither he, nor the Yankees, seem close to figuring out the reason, let alone coming up with a solution.

Coming off one of the worst starts of his career Saturday in St. Louis, Severino turned in an outing that just might head the list in Thursday night’s 14-1 loss to the Orioles in front of 39,766 fans at the Stadium, only a few thousand of whom were left by game’s end.

Severino, finding barrel after barrel, was shelled for seven runs, which matched a season high. He allowed a season-worst 10 hits over a season-low 2 2/3 innings, leaving the mound in the third inning under a rainstorm of boos.

“It’s a little tough to get my head around,” Severino said. “I just need to figure out what’s going on.”

The always accountable Severino, who fell to 1-4 with a 7.38 ERA, has said the latter more than a few times this season.

“Physically, he looks OK to me,” Aaron Boone said. “But obviously the execution isn’t there and we have to dig on everything. We’ll keep digging on it and trying to get him to where we know he can get to. Everyone knows what kind of pitcher he is. We’ve got to get him there.”

Though pitch tipping has been an issue for Severino at times in his career – the Dodgers felt they had something on him June 2 in Los Angeles when he allowed seven runs and nine hits in four innings – it wasn’t believed to be the issue Thursday night.  

The Orioles (51-35), who are second in the AL East and who won the last two games of the series after dropping the first two, led 13-0 after four innings and were outhitting the Yankees, 15-1. Baltimore scored one run in the first, sent 12 to the plate in a 7-run third and nine to the plate in a 5-run fourth.

“The pitch execution comes and goes a little bit in different spurts,” pitching coach Matt Blake said.

The Yankees (48-40), who didn’t do much of anything well and who for the fourth time this season used utility man Isiah Kiner-Falefa to pitch late, were outhit 20-7 overall (Kiner-Falefa pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to lower his season ERA to 2.25).

The Yankees scored an unearned run in the ninth to make it 14-1.  

But the primary story of the evening for the Yankees was the performance of Severino, the question of if they can afford to continue sending him to the mound a very fair one. Though with the All-Star break upcoming, and Severino’s rotation spot not due up again until a few days into the second half, not a question the Yankees have to answer for a while.  

Starting pitching is not considered an organizational strength, but Jhony Brito and Randy Vasquez have both had their moments in spot-start duty this season and would be options if the Yankees chose to pull Severino from the rotation to try and get him right.   

“He doesn’t throw in anymore and [opposing teams] are just taking a lot of comfortable swings. Delivery looks slightly different than when he’s been good [in the past],” one rival AL scout said. “He looks lost.”

Orioles rookie shortstop Gunnar Henderson started what was a career night for him, homering to lead off the game against Severino. Through four innings, Henderson was 3-for-3 with five RBIs (he hit a three-run homer off Albert Abreu in the fourth).

Baltimore righthander Kyle Bradish was the happy recipient of the gluttonous run support, allowing three hits and two walks over six innings in improving to 5-4 with a 3.32 ERA.

Henderson led off what was a 26-pitch first with his 12th homer of the season, taking a full-count, 97-mph fastball the other way to left. Severino’s night nosedived from there.  

“I think early on in the game, the worst thing that could have happened was he gets a fly ball to left that leaves the yard, and I think there’s a confidence factor for all these guys,” Blake said. “We’re continuing to try and narrow down exactly what it is.”