Yankees ace Luis Severino had a chance to showcase his stuff and prove he’s the team’s best pitcher in arguably their most pivotal game of the season on Monday, but he did quite the opposite.
The Yankees were coming off a huge win in Game 2 of the American League Division Series in Fenway Park, and the team had the chance to swing all the momentum in the series with a win at home. Unfortunately for them, Severino picked a bad time to turn in one of his worst performances of the season. He gave up six earned runs in only three innings, and recorded just two strikeouts. After four innings of play, the Yankees found themselves down 10-1 — an insurmountable hole the team never really recovered from.
In watching the game, it looked as if the Red Sox knew what Severino was going to throw, and when; apparently that was the case. A report from Jon Heyman of Fancred Sports states that Severino was tipping his pitches in the game.
“The Red Sox had his pitches,’ one Yankees person told Heyman.
There was talk about the Yankees not giving Severino enough time to warm up before the game, but this theory seems to hold a lot more weight. A video showing a conversation between Jackie Bradley Jr. and Mookie Betts seems to back it up, as JBJ appeared to guess that Severino was electing to throw a fastball on one particular pitch to Brock Holt in the game. Sure enough, he did.
.@LouMerloni just nailed it. Red Sox had a beat on what was coming as early as the second inning. JBJ says "Fastball…" to Mookie before an 0-2 pitch to Holt, Severino pumps in 98 MPH fastball that Holt fouls away. pic.twitter.com/wLGR5dVDys
— Dan O'Mara (@Dan_OMara) October 9, 2018
Teams nowadays tend to study video on opposing pitchers for hours on end, so hurlers must be diligent about not giving off any tells that their opponents can pick up on. As for Severino, he’ll need to work on this issue in the offseason, otherwise the Red Sox hitters will tee off on him again.
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