New York Yankees pitcher Luis Severino has certainly had his struggles pitching in the postseason, but he finally got his revenge against the Twins on Monday night.
During the AL Wild Card game back in 2017, the Twins pounded New York Yankees‘ pitcher Luis Severino for three runs on four hits through just a third of an inning. Since then, the two-time All-Star has been attempting to get payback against the Twins.
In the Yankees series-winning game of the ALDS, Severino got himself into trouble multiple times early on in the game, including a situation in the bottom of the second inning where the Twins had the bases loaded with no one out.
Speaking with Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports after the game, Severino spoke about how he kept reminding himself about his awful performance in 2017, and how he didn’t want something like that to happen again.
Luis Severino believes this @Yankees team is good enough to sweep anybody.
He joins @Ken_Rosenthal after the victory! pic.twitter.com/NCnO71QW80
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 8, 2019
Throughout the game, it was clear that Severino didn’t have his best stuff on the mound, which made his performance with multiple runners on base even more impressive.
In speaking with reporters after the game, Severino continued to speak about his mindset during the second and third innings when he had runners in scoring positions with no outs.
“In my mind. I wasn’t gonna let that happen again,” Severino said to Dan Martin of the New York Post. “I think I got my revenge right there for what happened ’17.”
Severino wasn’t perfect against the Twins, but he made his pitches when they counted most. With the bases loaded in the second inning, Severino broke off back-to-back nasty sliders to strikeout Marwin Gonzalez and then he used the same pitch to finish off Jake Cave to end the inning as well.
“He wasn’t his best, but he battled,’’ general manager Brian Cashman said. “Especially when his back was against the wall. He had traffic every inning, but when he had to, he made the pitches.’’
Heading into the ALCS, the Yankees can now rely on Severino to help lead their team back to the World Series. With the Yankees awaiting the winner of the series between the Astros and Rays, they can now set up their starting rotation anyway they choose.
Following his performance against the Twins, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Severino start in game one or two of the ALCS.
