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Luis Severino and his velocity lack in clunker vs. Dodgers: ‘I was missing a lot of pitches’

LOS ANGELES — With Clayton Kershaw and Luis Severino on the hill, the Yankees’ series opener against the Dodgers had the pieces in place for a pitching duel. But only Kershaw delivered on his end of the bargain as the Dodgers won, 8-4.

Severino faced adversity from the jump, as Mookie Betts greeted the right-hander to Dodger Stadium with a leadoff home run. The blast — one of two for Betts in the game — set the tone for a six-run first for Los Angeles, which also received a two-run homer from Max Muncy.

Former Red Sox slugger J.D. Martinez added a solo shot in the third. All in all, Severino totaled four innings, nine hits, seven earned runs, three home runs, one walk, two strikeouts and a whopping 13 hard-hit balls over 83 pitches in his third start of the season.

“I was missing a lot of pitches,” Severino said afterward. “Missed to Mookie Betts, a pitch inside. And this is a good team. They got good hitters, and I had to minimize those mistakes.”

While Severino attributed his woes to poor command, his clunker of an evening coincided with a 2.3-mph drop in his fastball’s average velocity. Severino entered the game averaging 97.3 mph on his heater after two starts, but the pitch averaged 95 mph on Friday.

Severino said that he was not aware of his diminished speed during the game and that he trusted his heater throughout. But he only threw five fastballs in his final frame.

“I feel they were on the fastball,” Severino reasoned. “So I just needed to mix a little bit.”

In addition to the fastball, Severino’s cutter dipped 2.8 mph, while his slider and changeup also came in slower than usual. He added that he will look at his velocity when he reviews the start on Saturday.

“The main thing is location,” Severino said. “I can throw 95 where I want — I would rather throw 99 where I want — but 95 I can get through a lineup.”

Aaron Boone said Severino was “just a tick off tonight,” but the manager also downplayed the diminished velo. When asked about Severino potentially tipping his pitches, the manager said, “We’ll look at everything.”

Severino said much of the same while reiterating that he felt control cost him.

“For me, the big thing was location,” he repeated. “Even if I was tipping, I need to get better. This is the big leagues, and if I was tipping, I will look at it and see. But either way, if I was tipping, that’s my bad.”

While Severino struggled, Kershaw pitched well despite mistakes to Josh Donaldson and Giancarlo Stanton. Both homered in their return from the injured list, but the jacks were hardly enough for the Yankees to overcome the early hole they found themselves in.

Kershaw totaled seven innings, four hits, two earned runs, one walk and nine strikeouts over 96 pitches.

Donaldson went deep again in the ninth for a two-run shot, giving the former MVP his first two-homer game since June 11, 2021. The third baseman has not hit consistently since joining the team last year, but Boone has remained adamant that Donaldson can still be an offensive force.

The skipper restated those beliefs Friday.

“The guy has been a wrecking machine his whole life,” Boone said. “He’s got that skill set. He still has that power, that twitch, that bat speed. I know it’s in there.

“It was definitely good to see him come out and get some results right out of the gate. Hopefully that can propel him a little bit because when he’s right, he’s a great player. When you’ve been out for a while and get results like he did, hopefully that’s something that goes a long way and gets him rolling.”

Donaldson, after playing in the majors for the first time since April 5, shared similar sentiments after the game. But he also didn’t want to read too much into his first game back.

“Today is one day,” Donaldson said. “I have to go out and do it again tomorrow.”

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Source: Berkshire mont

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