Luis Severino solid again, Anthony Rizzo goes deep as Yankees beat Tigers

DETROIT – Aaron Boone delivered an almost perfect summation late Tuesday night for pretty much every Yankees’ win this season when it comes to the offense.

“Not a lot,” Boone said, “but enough to shake hands at the end of the day.”

It was true in Tuesday night’s victory and was again Wednesday night in a 5-3 win over the Tigers in front of 17,268 at Comerica Park.

Enough because the pitching staff – even with Luis Severino lacking the sharpness of his stuff from his first start – has all but strangled the opposition this season, and that was also the case Wednesday.

Severino allowed one run and seven hits in five innings and turned in his third solid outing in three tries. The Yankees’ bullpen, as it has done far more times than not this season, took it home from there to hand the Tigers their third straight loss.

The Yankees (7-5) go for a sweep Thursday afternoon against the Tigers (4-7), who did see Miguel Cabrera go 3-for-4 to get within one hit of 3,000 for his career.

A milestone, incidentally, more than a few Yankees wouldn’t mind seeing in person. That includes first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who went 2-for-4 with a homer and double Wednesday. He said Cabrera is someone he has long admired.

“I definitely want to see him get his 3,000th hit,” said Rizzo, whose solo homer in the sixth gave the Yankees a 3-1 lead. “It’s history. He’s been one of the best to do it and I’ve looked up to him when I was younger, and still do for everything he’s done. Hopefully he gets that 3,000th tomorrow and we win the ballgame and there’s no damage done.”

Severino, 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA coming in, walked two and struck out three. Two of the hits he gave up were to Cabrera, in the second and fourth innings.

“I was grinding through,” said Severino, who lowered his season ERA to 2.08. “My slider, I didn’t feel like it was there when I needed it so I relied a lot on my changeup and they noticed that. But I made some big pitches in big situations.”

Of Cabrera, Severino said: “For me, he’s one of the greatest hitters of all time… I love facing him.”

Chad Green allowed two runs in a rare hiccup for the righthander, then Jonathan Loaisiga and Clay Holmes got the ball to Aroldis Chapman, who allowed a leadoff single to pinch hitter Willi Castro in the ninth but retired three straight for his third save in three chances.

The Yankees had six hits, two each by Rizzo and the suddenly resurgent Isiah Kiner-Falefa.

The Tigers, who had 11 hits, took the lead in the second when Victor Reyes singled in Jeimer Candelario, who led off with a double.

The Yankees took the lead in the third when Kiner-Falefa improved to 8 for his last 15 – after a 1-for-17 start – by leading off with a double to left. Kyle Higashioka walked and, after Aaron Hicks lined to first, Aaron Judge lined a full-count cutter into the corner in left for an RBI double that moved Higashioka to third. Rizzo’s slow groundout to first brought in Higashioka for a 2-1 lead.

Harold Castro’s two-run double off Green in the sixth tied it at 3 but Kiner-Falefa’s RBI single in the seventh made it 4-3. Rizzo doubled and scored in the eighth – even stealing third to set up the run – for a 5-3 lead.

“I think with games like this and (big) parks like this, you need to scratch runs across,” Rizzo said. “It’s early and guys have been selfless with their bunts and getting guys over. That’s winning baseball. The more you can scratch and claw one or two runs in tough games when it’s not going the way that you want it go, we’ll just be better in the long run.” 

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.