Luis Severino pounded again in Yankees’ brutal blowout loss to Orioles
The high pop up by the Orioles’ Ramon Urias hung in the air for a while, with both Jose Trevino and DJ LeMahieu seeming to have a play on the foul ball.
Instead, the ball fell between the two Yankees, as they looked at each other and the Stadium crowd booed loudly.
That was a familiar sound in The Bronx on Thursday night during an unsightly 14-1 loss to the Orioles, which featured a 20-hit barrage from Baltimore and a second straight disastrous start from Luis Severino.
A no-show from a Yankees lineup that manager Aaron Boone had shuffled up in an effort to spark a struggling offense didn’t help.
The Yankees (48-40), who ended up with a split in the four-game series with second-place Baltimore, are four games out of the top AL wild-card spot and are battling the Blue Jays for the final entry.
Severino’s performance was particularly worrisome.
The right-hander and the coaching staff are searching for answers as he enters the All-Star break a mess.
The 29-year-old, who allowed a season-high nine runs, seven earned, in four innings at St. Louis in his previous outing, was nearly as bad on Thursday. He gave up seven runs — all earned — along with 10 hits in just 2 ²/₃ innings, and he needed 77 pitches to get that far.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been this bad a pitcher my whole life,’’ Severino said. “It’s tough to get my head around. I’ll keep trying to get better.”
Severino said he’s not concerned about potentially losing his spot in the rotation as the pitching staff returns to health. Carlos Rodon is scheduled to make his Yankees debut Friday and Nestor Cortes’ return from the injured list is expected later this month.
Manager Aaron Boone said the Yankees will use the All-Star break to try to find answers for Severino.
“I think this is the first time we’ve seen him physically fine and not have results follow,’’ pitching coach Matt Blake said.
Blake called Severino’s recent performances “very concerning.” Severino added he didn’t feel good about any of his pitches Thursday.
There was nothing for the Yankees to feel good about on Thursday.
Gunnar Henderson led off the game with a homer and had four hits in the first five innings.
Severino gave up three screaming hits to start the third, which turned into a seven-run inning. He was yanked after Henderson’s RBI single and heard boos as he walked off the mound. Severino was replaced by Albert Abreu, who was even worse, giving up six runs while retiring just two batters.
It was just the latest poor outing for Severino, whose ERA jumped to 7.38 — not likely what he had planned on as he heads into free agency.
As bad as the pitching was, the Yankees’ offense was nearly as brutal against Kyle Bradish. The Baltimore right-hander hadn’t allowed more than two runs in any of his previous four starts and dominated the Yankees on Thursday.
Braddish retired 11 of the first 12 batters he faced, with only Anthony Rizzo reaching on a two-out single in the first. The Yankees didn’t get another hit until Gleyber Torres singled with one out in the sixth, and they were an out away from being shut out before Billy McKinney’s RBI single in the ninth.
A lineup that has largely underperformed in the absence of Aaron Judge — just 25th in runs scored over the last month — got nothing going on Thursday after mostly being shut down by Dean Kremer in the loss Wednesday.
Boone mixed up the lineup to no avail. The manager also had to use Isiah Kiner-Falefa on the mound in the ninth inning for the fourth time this season, which Boone said was “not ideal.”
“Tonight was just a bad night for us,’’ Boone said. “It’s no fun to go through. No one likes getting beat over the head.”
