Yankees dominate Tigers again as win streak hits five
Luis Severino #40 of the Yankees pitches during the first inning against the Detroit Tigers at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, June 4, 2022. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Luis Severino wasn’t perfect. And that’s about the only remotely negative thing you can say about Saturday afternoon’s masterful outing.
After Jameson Taillon and Gerrit Cole took perfect games into the eighth and seventh innings in the two previous days, Severino added to the string of sterling pitching performances, allowing just one hit in seven innings in the Yankees' 3-0 win over the Tigers, their fifth victory in a row.
The only hit for the Tigers — in the entire game — was Miguel Cabrera’s line-drive leadoff single in the second, a 109.6-mph rocket right at shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa that broke like a slider and glanced off his glove and into leftfield as he tried to protect his face.
Michael King and Clay Holmes pitched perfect eighth and ninth innings, good for Holmes’ eighth save of the year. Aaron Judge hit his MLB-leading 21st home run and Anthony Rizzo homered for the second straight game to pace the offense as the Yankees moved to a season-high 23 games over. 500 at 38-15.
Even if he didn't take a perfect game into the late innings, Severino actually allowed fewer hits than Taillon and Cole did and struck out 10. “I’m afraid to get traded,” he joked. “If I don’t get to six or seven [innings], I’m not good enough . . . Watching every starter go seven, I have to do the same.”
Severino isn’t exaggerating. The Yankees have allowed only six hits in the last three games, the fewest hits in a three-game span in franchise history, according to ESPN Stats & Info. What’s more, they’ve outscored opponents 33-3 during their five-game winning streak and have thrown two of their eight shutouts in that span.
The Yankees' 2.73 ERA is best in the majors, and they’ve allowed only 12 runs in the last 10 games, the best 10-game span in franchise history. The starters have thrown at least seven innings and allowed one or no runs in five straight starts. In the last three games, the starters have an ERA of 0.41 and a WHIP of 0.27.
“It’s been special to watch them go at it,” Aaron Boone said. “They’ve been so good now for a while. We talk about passing the baton in the lineup and they’re doing it from the starting staff. Every day, we’re getting that kind of outing and we try not to take that for granted. What a good place all five of those guys are in.”
Meanwhile, it took all of one pitch for the Yankees to take the lead for good. A night after the Yankees hit four home runs in a 13-0 victory over Detroit, on Beau Brieske's first pitch of the game, Judge drove a fastball 378 feet to right-center. It was his first-ever leadoff home run, and his 21 homers in 53 games puts him on pace with Mickey Mantle in his 52-homer 1956 season. Babe Ruth also had 21 in 53 games in four seasons and 24 homers in that span in 1928.
“It’s an honor any time you get Yankee legends like that — any time I get a chance to be mentioned in the same category as them,” said Judge, who has 20 homers and 40 RBIs in his last 38 games. “It’s quite an honor, but I’m not trying to be [Roger] Maris, I’m not trying to be Ruth. I’m trying to be the best Aaron Judge I can be and I’m trying to stay consistent.”
Brieske was fortunate to get out of the first with only the homer by Judge. The Yankees hit four balls over 102 mph, including Giancarlo Stanton’s double, a hit that was first caught by Derek Hill but then bounced out of the centerfielder’s glove when he careened into the wall. Brieske settled down after that — until the sixth. That’s when Rizzo pulled a first-pitch slider 387 feet into the second deck in rightfield for his 13th homer of the season.
The Yankees loaded the bases with none out against Joe Jimenez in the eighth but had to settle for only a sacrifice fly by Josh Donaldson. With their pitching, that was plenty.
“It doesn’t matter who we got going out there,” Judge said. “If it’s Gerrit Cole or if it’s Nestor Cortes, they go out there and give us seven, eight innings . . . It’s fun to go out and play behind guys like that.”
Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.
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