Luis Severino led the way as the New York Yankees defeated the Blue Jays 8-3 on Sunday.Michael Owens/The Associated Press
Luis Severino pumped 98-mile-an-hour heaters and sliders past batters and fooled them with changeups.
“Our ace is back,” Aaron Judge proclaimed. “I’m excited about it. And just at the right time.”
Severino struck out nine over five scoreless innings for his first win this season, and the New York Yankees followed an emotional tribute to CC Sabathia by beating the Toronto Blue Jays 8-3 on Sunday in their regular-season home finale.
After watching Severino stretch his scoreless streak to nine innings over two games in his return from a lat injury that had sidelined the pitcher since spring training, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Severino (1-0) will be part of the AL East champions’ postseason rotation, which also includes Masahiro Tanaka and James Paxton.
And without a full workload of 30-plus starts, Severino may be stronger than usual.
“I feel fresh and I feel good to go,” he said. “The velocity is there.”
Sabathia and J.A. Happ are being moved to the bullpen for the final week of the regular season, making it likely the Yankees will use a three-man rotation for much of October and combine relievers for some games.
Tanaka is being skipped for his Tuesday turn at Tampa Bay to give him extra rest, but will start the regular season finale at Texas next weekend, lining him up for the Division Series opener on Oct. 4. Paxton will start on Friday against the Rangers and Severino on Saturday.
Severino allowed three singles and hit a batter while walking none. He threw 54 of 80 pitches for strikes, including his first 11.
“I think he’s going to play a huge role for us,” Boone said. “If we’re going to get far in this thing, he’s going to have to pitch well.”
Severino induced 13 swings and misses, 11 on fastballs and two on sliders.
“He looked like his old self today,” said Toronto’s Billy McKinney, who homered twice off New York’s bullpen.
Severino threw 46 fastballs that averaged 96.5 mph and topped out at 98.7 mph. He mixed in 18 sliders and 16 changeups.
“I thought his fastball command was good – maybe had a little more life to it,” Brett Gardner said. “His slider seemed to really have an extra gear to it when he needed it, with two strikes especially.”
Judge, Gardner and DJ LeMahieu homered, giving the Yankees a big-league record 298, one more than Minnesota.
New York (102-55) moved 47 games over .500 for the first time since its record-setting 114-victory season in 1998. The Yankees clinched home-field advantage in the AL Division Series starting on Oct. 4 and are competing with Houston (102-54) for the top record in the AL.
After losing their first three home series this season, the Yankees went 20-0-3 the rest of the way and finished with a 57-24 home record.
Have-nots have it!
Kansas City has become Major League Baseball’s fourth 100-loss team this season, matching the major league record.
The Royals were defeated 12-8 by the AL Central-leading Minnesota Twins on Sunday, joining the Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tigers and Miami Marlins as clubs with 100 defeats.
The only other season to feature four 100-loss clubs was 2002, when the Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays each dropped 106 games and Kansas City fell on the final day of the season for its 100th loss.
It’s also a banner year for baseball’s best. There have never been four 100-win teams in the same season.
The New York Yankees (102), Houston Astros (102) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (100 wins) already have eclipsed the mark. The Atlanta Braves (96) Minnesota (95) and Oakland Athletics (94) could still get there. The Astros clinched their third straight AL West title in grand fashion, routing the Los Angeles Angels 13-5 on Sunday.
Three teams reached 100 wins in both 2017 and 2018. Before then, there were only three 100-game winners in 1942, 1977, 1998, 2002 and 2003.