Severino, Stanton lead Yankees to series win over Oakland

On a cold, rainy afternoon in the Bronx that began with a nearly three-hour rain delay, the Yankees’ bats came out hot, scoring three runs in the first inning. Backed up by a solid outing from Luis Severino, the Yanks, donned in pink for Mother’s Day, beat Oakland 6-2 to take the rubber-match of their three-game weekend series with the Athletics.

Photo Credit: Kathy Willens | AP

As he did all weekend, Brett Gardner set the tone for the Yankees with a leadoff infield single in the first. After a double by Aaron Judge, and walk of Didi Gregorius, Giancarlo Stanton got the scoring started with a two-run single up the middle off A’s starter Brett Anderson. Later in the inning, Aaron Hicks added to the lead with a two-out, RBI single, giving New York a 3-0 lead after one.

On the mound, Luis Severino wasn’t at his best today, but like a true ace, he found a way to give the Yanks six strong innings to improve to 6-1 on the season. Severino struggled with control all day, walking two and needing 106 pitches to get through six. 

The first bit of trouble that Severino ran into came in the fourth when singles by Jed Lowrie and Matt Chapman put runners on first and second with two outs. Severino quickly ended the threat, however, getting Mark Canha to line out to Miguel Andujar to end the frame. In the fifth, Severino found himself in the same situation, this time yielding a two-out, RBI single to Jed Lowrie to get Oakland on the board and make it a 3-1 game. The RBI was Lowrie’s 36th of the season, good for second in the American League.

The Yankees got that run right back in the bottom-half of the fifth with an opposite field blast off the bat of Giancarlo Stanton, his 10th home run of the season. Stanton continued his strong play of late, going 4-4 and driving in three of the Yankees’ six runs. Stanton is now 9-23 with three home runs and 7 RBI in his last six games. Stanton also raised his batting average from .232 to .252 with the strong showing today.

 

Photo Credit: Kathy Willens | AP

Severino finished off his outing with a 1-2-3 sixth inning, ending the day with seven strikeouts and one run allowed. The Yanks are now 8-1 in games that their ace gets the ball, and Severino’s 2.14 ERA is good for fifth in the American League.

Photo Credit: Kathy Willens | AP

The Yanks added on two more runs, one coming in the seventh on a fielder’s choice groundout by Hicks. Stanton, again, set the table in that inning with a one-out double that put him and Aaron Judge in scoring position. The other run came in the eighth when Judge came through with a two-out RBI knock that scored Miguel Andujar. For the day, the Yanks were 3-11 with runners in scoring position.

In the seventh, Severino gave way to bullpen, which delivered three solid innings of relief. Chad Green tossed a 1-2-3 seventh, followed by Dellin Betances who continued his recent string of sharp pitching with two strikeouts and one walk in the eighth.

After giving up a solo home run to Mark Canha and letting things get a little interesting, Chasen Shreve finished Oakland off in the ninth with the tying run on-deck. In doing so, the Yankees were able to give David Robertson and Aroldis Chapman the afternoon off. After a disappointing loss on Friday, the Yanks bounced back with two quality wins over Oakland the last two days to take the series and finish off a 7-2 home stand.

Box Score:

Winning Pitcher: Luis Severino (6-1, 2.14 ERA) 

Losing Pitcher: Brett Anderson (0-2, 8.16 ERA)

NYY:

HR: Stanton (10)

RBI: Stanton 3 (26), Hicks 2 (15), Judge (35)

Giancarlo Stanton: 4-4, Aaron Judge: 2-4, Miguel Andujar: 2-4, Brett Gardner: 2-5

OAK:

HR: Canha (6)

RBI: Lowrie (36), Canha (16)

Jed Lowrie: 2-4, Jonathan Lucroy: 2-4, Marcus Semien: 2-5

Looking Ahead: Tomorrow is an off day for the Yanks, as they head down to our nation’s capital for an abbreviated two-game series with the Washington Nationals. This begins a stretch of 19 road games for the Yankees in their next 25 contests. The Yanks are scheduled to have Masahiro Tanaka and CC Sabathia on the mound, opposing Gio Gonzalez and Max Scherzer for Washington, meaning the Yankees will miss Stephen Strasburg. With today’s win, the Bombers improve to 28-12 on the season and stay tied with the Boston Red Sox atop the AL East standings.

Article by: Jake Graziano

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