Deeper dive into Luis Severino's outing shows progress for Yankees righthander

ATLANTA — This was a different Luis Severino.

On the mound and, maybe as significant, off it when talking to the media.

The righthander, whose 2023 season has been nothing short of a disaster, threw four innings Tuesday night in the Yankees’ 5-0 loss to Atlanta. His pitching line, on the surface, showed no discernible progress.

But diving into Severino’s outing — one in which he allowed five runs (three earned) and five hits — there was progress. Certainly when compared to so many of the outings that preceded it.

“I think the one thing we saw with Sevy, we saw some swing- and-miss,” Aaron Boone said of his pitcher who recorded 12 swing and misses Tuesday. “And that’s something we haven’t seen lately. But he had stuff tonight. You could tell he was having his way a lot of the night, which was good to see.”

This was not, one rival AL scout said, simply happy talk on the part of the Yankees’ manager.

“A few positive signs,” the scout said. “Less getting whacked around left, right and center [the way he had been]. Just burned by two big mistakes. Showed a bit more with his fastball and cutter. Wasn’t as poor as I was expecting based on previous outings.”

The two big mistakes came on a first-pitch slider in the first inning that Marcell Ozuna blasted for a three-run homer, and on a 98-mph fastball in the fourth when Ronald Acuna Jr. hit a two-run shot with two outs that made it 5-0 (those two runs were unearned because the leadoff batter reached on an error by third baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa).

Severino, who in the words of one club insider has sounded “broken” in some of his previous postgame comments — such as July 30 in Baltimore when he said “right now, I feel like the worst pitcher in the game” — sounded far more upbeat afterward.

“Really good today,” said Severino, who a handful of times hit 99 mph while striking out five. “I feel like I was in command of all my pitches. A couple mistakes . . . A lot of swing and misses. I haven’t done that in a long time.”

And it was especially encouraging because the opponent, Atlanta, has the best record in the big leagues (77-42) and the top offense with 700 runs entering Wednesday night’s series finale.

“This is a great team, this is the best team in the league right now,” said Severino, 2-8 with a 7.98 ERA in 15 games (14 starts). “So just seeing those swings like this with my fastball and my cutter was really good to see.”

Severino, an All-Star in 2017 and ’18 who pitched well in 2022 when healthy, going 7-3 with a 3.18 ERA in 19 starts, said at times Tuesday his stuff reminded him of that pitcher.

“I think that was it,” he said. “I think that was my best. Taking out the three-run homer in the first, after that I think I was dotting every pitch. Command of the fastball was outstanding. Velocity was there, too.”

To be clear, Severino, who is a free agent after the season, wasn’t claiming a quick fix had taken place and that all was suddenly well. But he noted he was “happy with the way I competed” and that he had “improved.”

A second AL scout agreed.

“Still has some issues with the stuff but it was [overall] positive,” he said. “Showed a little more than I expected, honestly.”

The Yankees rotation is in tatters as Randy Vazquez and Jhony Brito are currently in it because Nestor Cortes and Carlos Rodon are on the injured list. Cortes likely is done for the season with a rotator cuff strain and Rodon is expected back next week. Severino is likely to stay in the rotation because the alternatives aren’t great, and Tuesday at least provided some hope.

“It’s as good a stuff that I’ve seen, meaning I just thought the life was there,” Boone said. “Not a good line but I think that was a much better Sevy than we’ve seen.”