Luis Severino in awe of fellow Yankees starters

Luis Severino laughed briefly at the question.

Where do you rank yourself in the Yankees’ rotation?

“Right now, I’d have to be four or five,” Severino said, shaking his head. “This is a really good rotation right now. Every time somebody goes out there, he throws seven, eight innings and gives up one run.”

Severino, healthy for the first time since 2018, hasn’t exactly been a slouch. The righthander, scheduled to start Saturday afternoon against the Tigers, is 3-1 with a 3.38 ERA in nine starts.

But, as he indicated, that doesn’t place him at the top, or even all that close to the top, of the rotation.

Gerrit Cole entered Friday night’s start at 4-1 with a 3.12 ERA. Sunday’s starter, Jordan Montgomery, is 1-1 with a 3.04 ERA. Jameson Taillon, who had a perfect-game bid broken up with none out in the eighth inning of Thursday night’s victory over the Angels, improved to 6-1 with a 2.30 ERA after allowing two hits in eight innings for the second straight start.

And, of course, there’s Nestor Cortes, who continued his push to be the American League’s All-Star starter with another dominant performance in the first game of Thursday’s doubleheader sweep. He improved to 5-1 with 1.50 ERA after throwing seven scoreless innings.

Severino, who has been with the Yankees’ organization since December 2011, when he signed with them for $225,000 out of the Dominican Republic, and when healthy has been a part of the rotation since 2017, said “this is the best rotation since I got here.”

“Everybody’s so consistent,” he said. “It’s like everybody is a No. 1. You take Nestor, he’s doing something that no one imagined he was going to do. He’s one of the best pitchers in the league. Every time [Taillon] has his turn, Cole, Montgomery . . . it’s like a rewind of the same game as the pitcher from [the day] before. It’s been really fun to watch.”

Going into Friday, Yankees starters had pitched at least six innings in a season-high seven straight games. They had thrown at least seven innings in 11 starts this season, matching San Diego for the most such starts in the majors.

The group posted a 1.73 ERA in its previous 12 starts, allowing one or zero runs in nine of those outings.

There’s more.

Going into the Tigers series, in posting a 2.67 ERA — the second-lowest rotation ERA in the big leagues behind the Dodgers’ 2.56 — Yankees starters had allowed three or fewer earned runs in 47 of 51 starts and two or fewer earned runs in 38 of those starts. The starters have allowed multiple homers just twice in 51 starts (two on May 29 at Tampa Bay and two on April 13 vs. Toronto).

“They’re executing all of their pitches,” Severino said. “The main thing for this rotation is they’ve been so consistent with the stuff. I haven’t seen in a while a rotation go six, seven innings every time they go out there. So that’s something fun to watch. Hopefully we can continue to do that all year.”

In addition to the standout performance from the rotation, it is an extremely close-knit group. Before every game, the four non-starters accompany that night’s starter to the bullpen and watch his warmup, a tradition started a few years ago by CC Sabathia.

“Every time we go out there and see the guys throwing bullpens, the location is so good,” Severino said. “It’s like seeing a masterpiece.”

To this point of the Yankees’ season, there have been no shortage of them.

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.