NEW YORK _ Answering the call and his critics, Luis Severino was exactly the pitcher the Yankees needed Wednesday night.
The 24-year old right-hander pitched four scoreless, hitless innings, getting the Yankees on track for their 7-2 win over the A's at the Stadium in the American League wild-card game.
With chants of "We want Boston" breaking out in the Stadium after a four-run sixth inning, Severino and the Yankees delivered exactly that. They advance out of the wild-card game for the second straight year, this time moving on to the American League division series against their division rival Red Sox. That best-of-five game series begins Friday night in Fenway.
Severino was able to work with a two-run lead after Aaron Judge's two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning. The Yankees extended the lead with Aaron Hicks' RBI double and Luke Voit's two-run triple in the bottom of the sixth. Voit then surprisingly beat out a throw from left on Didi Gregorius' sacrifice fly to cap the four-run sixth. Giancarlo Stanton crushed a towering 443-foot homer in the eighth, his first playoff home run.
But Severino set the tone. He was not the obvious choice to make the start in the wild-card game. He'd had a dreadful second half, he had been out-pitched by both J.A. Happ and Masahiro Tanaka. And then there was the memory of last year's wild card game disaster, when he couldn't get out of the first inning.
But Aaron Boone said he felt that Severino had turned the corner and shown he could survive adversity in pitching well after last season's wild card clunker.
And the first-year Yankee manager was right. Severino was the perfect high-velocity fastball pitcher that gave the A's trouble.
It was just four innings, but it was four dominating innings of work, considering where Severino was coming from. In the last two months, Severino pitched to a 5.67 ERA in 73 innings over 14 starts, allowing 13 home runs. It was a shocking turn after he started the season pitching to a 1.98 ERA with a .195 batting average against over 118 innings in his first 18 starts.
But it was clear early Wednesday night that Severino had command of his fastball and slider and unlike last year, he wasn't overwhelmed by the moment.
Severino cruised through the first, needing just ten pitches to get further than he had the year before. He took a no-hitter into the fifth, but he had to work to get there.
Ironically, after all the talk about his inability to work with Gary Sanchez, Severio was saved in the fourth by his catcher. After walking two, Severino put a two-out, two-strike 88-mile an hour slider into the dirt. Sanchez, who is not known for his ability to block balls, dropped on it and saved the Yankees a run.
Severino then blew a 100-mile an hour fastball past Marcus Semien to get the third out. He let out a primal scream as he walked off the mound after getting out of the jam looking like he was done.
But with the no-hitter still alive, Boone had a tough call. The A's were about to face Severino for the third time in the game, when opponents have a .316 batting average against him.
The first-year Yankee manager sent Severino out to start the fifth, but had Dellin Betances up and working to get hot in the bullpen as well.
It was quickly clear Severino had spent all he had getting out of the fourth-inning spot. Jonathan Lucroy jumped on a first-pitch, lazy slider to single to left field leading off the fifth. He then gave up a solidly hit single to Nick Martini.
Tuesday afternoon, Boone had made it clear that he was going to be aggressive with his bullpen and Wednesday night he was. Again, he made the right call. Betances worked out of the jam pitched a perfect sixth as well. Zach Britton gave up a two-run homer to Khris Davis in the eighth, the only damage the A's managed against the Yankees.
Severino had hinted on Tuesday that he knew four would be enough.
"I just want to win. Whatever happens, if I can go four good innings and then the bullpen comes, that would be great," Severino said. "I just want to win and move up and go to Boston and try to win there."
That is exactly what Severino gave the Yankees on Wednesday night. That was all they needed.
