ST. LOUIS — So much for momentum.
Luis Severino entered Saturday coming off his best start of the season and the Yankees were hopeful that it could be the beginning of a strong stretch for the right-hander.
Instead, Severino returned to getting shelled, giving up a season-high nine runs across four-plus innings as the Yankees fell to the Cardinals, 11-2, in the first game of a doubleheader that was twice delayed by storms at Busch Stadium.
The Yankees won 6-2 in the nightcap to salvage a split in the doubleheader.
The Cardinals (34-47) clobbered Severino for nine hits, including a pair of home runs, before knocking him out of the game with two on and nobody out in the fifth inning.
Two of the nine runs he allowed were unearned because of a costly throwing error by third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera, but the right-hander still allowed plenty of loud contact — including seven balls hit at 95 mph or harder.
“I think this whole year has been concerning for me,” Severino said between games. “I want to be able to go out there and help my team. It’s frustrating that I can’t do that right now.”
Asked if he was healthy, Severino said, “Yeah, I feel pretty good right now.”
The only relief the Yankees (46-37) got in Game 1 was torrential downpours and winds entering the area before the bottom of the seventh inning, leading to a lengthy delay of 2 hours, 19 minutes before play resumed.
They got one more inning in before the skies opened up again — just as Josh Donaldson ran in from the bullpen to make his first career pitching appearance — leading to another delay of 18 minutes.
Donaldson still pitched the bottom of the eighth when play resumed, retiring the side on 11 pitches.
In his last start before Saturday, Severino tossed six shutout innings against a dangerous Rangers lineup, which had manager Aaron Boone saying before Saturday’s game, “I think he’s got a chance to go on a great run here for us.”
It proved to be wishful thinking, at least in the short term.
“Right now, I’m not at my best moment,” said Severino, who walked three and struck out only two. “I can’t make excuses. I just need to figure out a way to be consistent and get people out. … I’m not doing my job right now.”
Severino was at a loss when asked what the biggest difference was between his start Saturday and his prior one, feeling that he made good pitches against the Cardinals but that they took advantage of his offspeed stuff.
A three-run home run that Paul Goldschmidt hit in the third inning came on an 0-1 slider below the zone.
The two-run homer that Nolan Gorman added in the fourth inning, which extended the lead to 7-0, came on a first-pitch fastball up and in.
The two other extra-base hits Severino allowed, doubles to Lars Nootbaar and Nolan Arenado, came on a fastball and changeup, respectively.
After his latest beatdown, Severino owns a 6.30 ERA through his first eight starts of the season, which was delayed by a strained lat in spring training.
He has also given up 10 home runs across 40 innings.
“He didn’t find that consistency with the slider,” Boone said. “The fastball was good early and had some life to it, got some swing and miss. But then I think he wore down a little bit and the profile of his fastball and slider weren’t great. … We just gotta get him more consistent right now with command and crispness of his stuff, outing after outing.”
As hard as the Cardinals hit Severino, the Yankees were equally punchless against Jack Flaherty. The right-hander cruised through six shutout innings in which he gave up just four singles.
The Yankees made the final score look slightly better with a three-run ninth inning, including a two-run homer from Jake Bauers.
