NEW YORK _ There's no better insurance policy in the major leagues than the Yankees' bullpen. Manager Aaron Boone doesn't hesitant to dial r-e-l-i-e-f when one of his starting pitchers are in trouble.
He went to the pen for three relievers Thursday and all of them contributed to a 4-3 victory that enabled the Yankees to sweep a three-game series with Seattle, which came to town as the hottest team west of Houston.
"They've been terrific," Boone said of the bullpen. "We're built in a lot of ways around that bullpen."
It showed again against the Mariners. On a rare day when Luis Severino was off ("he's not a machine, he's a human being," catcher Austin Romine said), David Robertson, Dellin Betances and Aroldis Chapman combined to allow one hit in 31/3 innings, while striking out four.
"As advertised," said Romine.
Forget the problems the pen had at the start of the season. The relievers are on a roll. They have a 0.71 earned run average in the last 17 games. Without them, the 50-22 Yankees wouldn't be a season-high 28 games over .500.
While Boone thinks it's a "silly argument" to debate whether the Yankees rely too much on home runs, he gladly basked in the four-run first-inning feast the Yankees had against James Paxton, who entered the game with a 6-1 record and a no-hitter over Toronto in early May.
Aaron Judge and Miguel Andujar each hit two-run homers and one pitch after Judge's 19th homer, Giancarlo Stanton, Wednesday night's hero, was denied his 19th when center fielder Mitch Haniger timed his jump and robbed Stanton.
"He made it look easy," said Boone.
Nothing came easy for Severino, who improved to 11-2. He was touched up for three runs and eight hits, including a two-run homer by Kyle Seager in the second inning, and said he never had command of his pitches and never felt comfortable.
Until he turned the game over to the bullpen.
