NEW YORK _ A lot can happen between May and October, especially on the baseball field. But the way the Yankees are playing right now, it sure feels like they're sending a message to the defending champs, and everyone else in baseball.
This team is a force to be reckoned with.
The Yankees beat the Astros 5-3 on Wednesday night at the Stadium, taking the rubber match of this three-game series. With the win, the Yankees (35-17) have now won 10 of their last 11 series, climbed to a season-high-matching 18 games over .500.
And they've also taken five of their seven games against the World Series champion Astros, the team that knocked them out of the playoffs in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series last October.
Yankees ace Luis Severino (8-1) shut down the Houston lineup, allowing only two runs and four hits with 11 strikeouts in seven dominant innings, out-dueling Astros star Dallas Keuchel.
The Yankees rallied form yet another deficit, but this comeback wasn't as dramatic. Gary Sanchez snapped his 0-for-19 slump with a two-run single with the bases loaded in the sixth inning to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead. From there, Severino and Nate Robertson got the ball to closer Aroldis Chapman, who gave up a run but picked up the save.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he's come to look forward to Severino's starts. And for good reason, the 24-year-old is the American League leader in wins, and the Yankees had won 10 of their last 11 starts when he took the mound.
"Seve really continues to cement himself as an ace in this league," Boone said. "And he is a guy that obviously we feel great on the days he's pitching and handing him the ball, and part of that is because we feel like he has a chance to really get us (deep) into the game. And when you're going through a stretch of games (the Yankees are playing 13 games in 14 days) these are the days you do look to your ace to try to carry the load and get you deep into the game. Not only because he's really good and has a chance to win that night's game, but also when your ace can preserve the bullpen a little bit."
And Severino was dominant right from the beginning. He rolled through the Astros lineup on was dominant right from the beginning. He rolled through the Astros lineup in the first three innings, striking out seven and needing only 36 pitches to get through the entire lineup without allowing a hit or a baserunner.
When Severino retired the first two batters of the fourth inning on groundouts, it started to feel like it might be a special night. But Jose Altuve broke up the perfect game with a base hit to right.
And in the fifth inning, it started to feel like the game may get away from Severino, when catcher Max Stassi crushed a towering two-out, two-run homer into the left-center field loading dock. The 423-foot blast gave the Astros a 2-1 lead.
But Severino got out of the inning without any further damage, and the offense quickly made sure it had his back.
Austin Romine and Aaron Judge each got singles off of Keuchel, and Giancarlo Stanton walked. With two outs, two strikes and the bases loaded, Sanchez slapped an outside fastball into right field for a two RBI single. The Yankees reclaimed a 3-2 lead and wouldn't trail again.
Gleyber Torres led off the sixth inning with a double and Didi Gregorius, the next batter, chased Keuchel from the game with an RBI single. Keuchel finished with seven hits, four runs and three walks over five-plus innings.
Severino had out-pitched Keuchel, and the Yankees lineup had gotten the best of him. And while it's only may, it felt like a message had been sent.
