About Last Night: BAL 14, NYY 1

By Ethan Semendinger

July 7th, 2023

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Does it even count as not a shutout if they scored a run via error with two outs in the 9th inning while down 14 runs?

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Quick Stats -

• Winning Pitcher: Kyle Bradish (5-4, 3.32 ERA)

• Losing Pitcher: Luis Severino (1-4, 7.38 ERA)

• Save: N/A

• Home Runs (Baltimore): Gunnar Henderson (12 & 13)

• Home Runs (New York): None

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Big Story - After losing on Wednesday night, the Yankees needed a big win last night in order to secure a possibility of staying within the race to take the 2nd AL East spot while going into the All-Star Break.

And, I'm sure if you asked 100 people on the street, many would've believed that the Yankees were the surefire team to win going into last night's game. And that's because Luis Severino was on the mound to face the Baltimore Orioles.

However, that's the people who don't follow baseball heavily. Those people on the street are not you or I. Those people are stuck in the belief that the Baltimore Orioles are the runt of the AL East's litter and that Luis Severino is a perennial All-Star pitcher.

And if you told me that Severino was going up against the Orioles I would've agreed with that "man on the street" sentiment...if it was five years ago when you asked me. But, times have changed. A lot.

Coming into the game last night, Luis Severino had a 6.30 ERA over 40 innings so far this year. That is equal to 1/3rd of the amount of innings he pitched in the MLB between 4 seasons stretching from 2019 to 2022. I'm highlighting how long he has been gone from the sport to emphasize that Luis Severino is not the budding star pitcher we remember from 2017 and 2018. He's fallen apart, gotten hurt, and lost his stuff. It's sad when it happens to anybody, but it's a fact of baseball.

On a separate note, how's Tim Lincecum doing? (In other words, 2017 was a long time ago.)

On the opposite notion of being to slow to change ideas (re: Luis Severino), the Yankees take a much different approach with their young could-be a superstar player in Anthony Volpe.

Last night's line-up had Anthony Volpe leading off.

It's like the Yankees don't learn. Anthony Volpe is not ready for a lead-off spot in the line-up. It doesn't matter how much chicken parmesan he is eating, until he is consistently batting well in the bottom of the line-up it is not worth it to move him around the line-up so much.

Since the "chicken parm", Volpe came into last nights game hitting .354/.417/.600 with 23 hits in 20 games and 3 home runs. That is all incredibly good and I am incredibly excited to see Volpe put together a good three week stretch where he hit over .350. That's amazing for a young player.

But- 2020 notwithstanding- name the me the last time a player won the MVP based on a 3 week sample size.

Anthony Volpe should not be leading off until this miraculous turn-around has shown sustained success. Not a good three weeks. That's nothing in baseball.

On a larger note, it frustrates me how volatile they act towards playing their young players who need to be nurtured. Remember the likes of Rob Refsnyder when I say this, and remember how he failed in the Yankees organization.

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Player(s) of the Game - Two pitchers didn't stink, so...

• Ron Marinaccio: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB's, 0 K's

• Isiah Kiner-Falefa (Pitcher): 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB's, 0 K's

Notable Performances - Any extra-base hit or multi-times on base was notable last night...

• Deivi Garcia: 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB's, 1 K

• Oswaldo Cabrera: 1-1, Double, Run

• Harrison Bader: 1-3, BB, K

Better to Forget - Don't actually forget this, remember these performances

• Luis Severino: 2.2 IP, 10 H, 7 R (7 ER), 1 BB, 3 K's

• Albert Abreu: 0.2 IP, 4 H, 6 R (6 ER), 3 BB's, 0 K's

• Anthony Volpe: 0-4, K

• Billy McKinney: 0-4, 3 K's

• Isiah Kiner-Falefa (Hitting): 0-3

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My Take - I talked about two players above. That is and was for good reason.

Luis Severino couldn't make it out of the 3rd inning last night. He raised his ERA to 7.38 on the season. In 9 starts this year, he's given the Yankees just 42.2 innings of work. That's an average of just over 4.2 innings of work...while allowing 3.88 runs per start.

While I wish I could hold on to the hope that Severino will turn it around and be great again, I cannot. Truthfully, I haven't in many years. I just hope we remember starts like this when his free agency rolls around and people talk up how good Severino could be.

Unfortunately, his goose is cooked.

Oh, and Anthony Volpe went hitless in the lead-off spot. I'm told he had fettuccini alfredo before the game. Bad call, Volpe. Stick to chicken. The protein will be good for you.

As far as the game goes, I'm not going to talk about it. I always include a highlight video to catch anything I miss, so that's included below. However, I don't recommend watching it on this go around.

And, one last note: I'm not going to harp on Albert Abreu. Everybody has a bad night here and there. He came into the game with a 3.11 ERA over 30 games and 37.2 innings. I know he caught a lot of flack last year, but he's been good, so I'm going to mostly ignore this outing.

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Next Up - The Yankees welcome the Chicago Cubs back to the Bronx for the first time since...last year. Oh well, I was hoping this would be a little more exciting than that. For the Yankees, this is a very important game as Carlos Rodon will be making his 2023 season and New York Yankees debut! I hope he can pitch a lot of innings after the bullpen was thoroughly used last night. Meanwhile, the Cubs will send former friend Jameson Taillon (2-6, 6.93 ERA) to the bump. The game starts at 7:05 PM (EST) and will- amazingly enough for a Friday night game- actually be on television and- even more shocking- on the YES Network!