ST. LOUIS — The only respite the Yankees got from their shellacking in the first game of a doubleheader Saturday came from a pair of rain delays that spanned two-plus hours.
In the nightcap, it came from their bullpen, especially Michael King, and the bottom of their lineup.
The combination was enough to salvage a doubleheader split on a long and wet day at Busch Stadium, with the Cardinals taking Game 1, 11-4, and the Yankees claiming Game 2, 6-2.
After Luis Severino got shelled for a season-high nine runs (seven earned) across four-plus innings in the afternoon, the Yankees turned to a bullpen game at night and found a winning formula.
King delivered 3 ¹/₃ scoreless innings, one of six relievers to pitch in Game 2 while getting enough support from their offense.
“We’ve got to find different ways to win and tonight we were able to play a little bit of small ball,” said Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who went 3-for-3 with a walk and two runs in the nightcap. “Bullpen days are weird, but when we have our guys, we feel pretty good about it.
The Yankees (46-37) got sacrifice flies from Harrison Bader and DJ LeMahieu, an RBI triple from Anthony Volpe, a safety squeeze bunt from Jose Trevino and then a two-run single from Gleyber Torres for some more breathing room in the ninth.
It was enough to finish off the Cardinals (34-48) and set up a rubber game Sunday between Gerrit Cole and Jordan Montgomery.
Earlier in the day, the Cardinals 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 faster.
“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.” But he owns a 6.30 ERA through his first eight starts of the season, which was delayed by a strained lat in spring training.
The game was a slog for the Yankees, and that was before torrential downpours and winds entered the area before the bottom of the seventh inning, leading to a lengthy delay of 2 hours, 19 minutes.
They later had another 18-minute delay before the bottom of the eighth inning, which Josh Donaldson pitched to save the bullpen for Game 2.
In his last start before Saturday, Severino threw 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.
Paul Goldschmidt drilled a three-run homer on an 0-1 slider below the zone in the third inning before Nolan Gorman crushed a two-run shot in the fourth on a first-pitch fastball up and in.
“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.”
