Flash back to nearly a year ago, in a June 22 game at Yankee Stadium against the Angels. Luis Severino stood on the mound in the seventh inning with his shoulders slumped, head bowed and arm slightly extended as he handed the baseball to Joe Girardi. The young righty had just been rocked for six runs on eight hits by an Angels team that would finish the season with the lowest OPS in the American League.



Just a couple weeks prior, Severino had emerged as the ace of the staff in the wake of Masahiro Tanaka’s early-season implosion, but his grip on that title now seemed to be weakening as he produced his second subpar outing a row (he had surrendered four runs in six innings at Oakland on June 16). His ERA ballooned to 3.30, and it was the third time in his first 14 starts of 2017 he’d posted a game score below 40 (which is considered replacement level).



That would be the last time in his young career that Severino allowed more than three runs in...