If the Yankees are going to do anything this season, one thing they will need is for Luis Severino's return from injury to be a successful one.
So far, so good: 2 starts, 2 Yankee wins.
Yesterday afternoon, against the San Diego Padres, he pitched 6 2/3rds innings, allowing 2 runs, only 1 of them earned, on 1 hit and 3 walks, striking out 5. Unfortunately, that 1 hit was a home run by Fernando Tatís Jr. in the 4th inning.
But DJ LeMahieu doubled home a run in the 1st inning, following singles by Aaron Judge and Anthony Rizzo. Judge scored on the double, and Rizzo tried to, but was thrown out at the plate. That run that the Yankees didn't get loomed large until the bottom of the 7th, when DJLM hit a home run to tie the game.
Michael King pitched into the 8th, and Wandy Peralta to the end of the 9th. The game went to extra innings. Clay Holmes pitched a perfect top of the 10th. In the bottom of the 10th, with Gary Allen as the ghost runner, the Padres walked LeMahieu intentionally. Given the game he'd had to that point, probably a good idea. But Harrison Bader bunted the runners over, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled Allen home.
Yankees 3, Padres 2. WP: Holmes (3-2). No save. LP: Nick Martinez (2-2). It was IKF's 1st walkoff hit as a Yankee, and in his postgame interview with Meredith Marokovits of YES, he told of how the Yankees feed off the home crowd, 46,963 on this occasion, a gloriously sunny Saturday afternoon on Memorial Day Weekend.
The series concludes this afternoon, with a battle between a pair of aces, Gerrit Cole and Yu Darvish.