Luis Severino’s transformation from struggling starter to dominant reliever — albeit temporary — continued in the Yankees’ 4-2 loss to the Rays on Sunday at the Stadium.
Severino came on with two outs in the sixth, immediately after Luis Cessa gave up another homer to put the Yankees in a three-run hole.
From there, though, Severino delivered 2¹/₃ more scoreless innings — despite loading the bases in the seventh.
It wasn’t enough for the Yankees to complete a four-game sweep or win their eighth in a row, but it was another encouraging sign the right-hander has put his ugly start to 2016 behind him — and could be a significant weapon out of the bullpen the rest of the way.
“I’m hitting the glove,” said Severino, who hasn’t given up an earned run in any of his seven relief outings, covering 16²/₃ innings. “Earlier, I wasn’t doing that. I was missing a lot pitches. Now I’m more focused.”
The numbers are striking. Severino, who emerged as a key member of the rotation in the final two months of the season last year, has looked like a different pitcher since the move to the pen.
He did throw a changeup, he said, to Corey Dickerson on Sunday, but he largely has stayed away from the pitch that he has yet to master. It was the lack of the changeup that led to him going to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre earlier in the season.
“Coming out of the bullpen, I’m learning a lot of tough situations,” Severino said. “I’m not letting the pressure go to my head.”
Manager Joe Girardi, clearly unafraid to go to his bullpen early and often, will no doubt call on Severino frequently as long as the Yankees remain in the playoff hunt.
“We need it to continue as we move forward here, but it should give him confidence,” Girardi said. “He’s been really effective there, so he should be gaining confidence.”
The combination of Didi Gregorius’ emergence at the plate and the departures of middle of the order players such as Carlos Beltran and Alex Rodriguez led to the shortstop finding time as the Yankees cleanup hitter, but lately Gregorius has stumbled at the plate.
With Sunday’s 0-for-4, Gregorius has just three hits in 27 at-bats on the homestand. He has just one walk and seven strikeouts during the seven-game stretch after batting sixth in the order Sunday against right-hander Matt Andriese.
To commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Girardi and Dellin Betances laid a wreath on at the 9/11 Memorial in Monument Park.
Before to the game, the Yankees recognized servicemen and women from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and the Ft. Belvoir Wounded Warriors. The ceremony also featured the NYPD Emerald Society Pipes and Drums and, during the national anthem, members of the FDNY unfurled the same giant American flag that was used at the Stadium in 2001 before Game 3 of the World Series, when President George W. Bush threw out the first pitch.
Starlin Castro wasn’t in the starting lineup, with Girardi saying he wanted to give him a day off. That lasted until the seventh, when Castro came on to pinch hit for Ronald Torreyes with the Yankees trailing by two runs.
Castro reached on a fielding error with two out, but was stranded at third when Jacoby Ellsbury flied out to end the inning.
Brett Gardner went 3-for-4 and has multiple hits in each of his last four games in which he’s had a plate appearance. He has gone 9-for-16 with three runs, a double and an RBI in that span. … Aaron Judge had a single, but is 4-for-30 with no extra-base hits since a homer Aug. 30.