Inside The Pinstripes

Yankees' Luis Severino Leaves Game With Shoulder Injury

Severino allowed four runs on four hits with two walks and just one strikeout in two innings before taking himself out of the game.

Max Goodman

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NEW YORK — After two shaky innings against the Reds, Luis Severino walked out of the Yankees dugout to begin his third inning of work, climbing onto the mound to begin warming up.

After just one warmup pitch, however, Severino took a beat and walked straight off the field into the Yankees dugout, an extremely concerning conclusion to a poor performance.

The Yankees later announced that Severino exited the game with right shoulder tightness, adding that the right-hander will undergo an MRI on Thursday. 

Left-hander JP Sears, who was already warming up at one point during the second inning, was quickly summoned from the bullpen. 

Severino had allowed four runs in two frames, giving up back-to-back-to-back home runs in the second inning to the bottom third of Cincinnati's lineup. After those three long balls, Yankees manager Aaron Boone and a member of New York's training staff went out to check on Severino, but he stayed in the game, finishing the inning by retiring the next three batters he faced. 

The biggest red flag that something was wrong with Severino was his velocity. The starter threw 18 fastballs on Wednesday night, averaging 94.1 mph. His average on the season is 96.1. In fact, Severino's velocity was down for four of his five pitches on Wednesday.

The third home run hit off Severino in the second came on a 92-mph fastball to Stuart Fairchild, the outfielder's first MLB home run.

It's hard not to jump to any conclusions with Severino's injury history. The right-hander threw a total of 18 innings over the last three years—after missing the majority of the 2019 season with a shoulder injury, the right-hander underwent Tommy John surgery before the 2020 season.

That said, Severino has been solid this year, his first full campaign back from elbow surgery. Entering play on Wednesday, the 28-year-old had made 15 starts (84 innings pitched), posting a 3.11 ERA with 94 strikeouts. He had settled into a groove recently as well, pitching to a 2.60 ERA in his last nine appearances, giving up two runs or fewer in six of those outings (since May 16).

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Max Goodman
MAX GOODMAN

Max Goodman covers the New York Yankees for Sports Illustrated and FanNation. Goodman has been on the Yankees beat for three seasons. He is also the publisher of Sports Illustrated and FanNation's Jets site, Jets Country. Before starting Inside The Pinstripes, Goodman attended Northwestern University and the Medill School of Journalism. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism and Master’s Degree in Sports Media, graduating in 2019. At school, Goodman was an anchor and reporter with NNN SportsNight and played on the club baseball team. While at Northwestern, Goodman interned with MLB.com as an associate reporter covering the Miami Marlins. He also interned with ESPN, working as an associate reporter on Mike Greenberg's Get Up. Goodman is from New York City. He grew up in Hell's Kitchen. Follow Goodman on Twitter @MaxTGoodman. You can connect with him via email by reaching out at maxgoodmansports@gmail.com.

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