Yankees fall 4-3, get swept by Orioles in doubleheader

Source: FanGraphs

Gotta hand to ’em, the Yankees are really committed to this whole “limp to the finish line” thing. They were swept by the Orioles in Saturday’s doubleheader, dropping game two 4-3. Home field advantage in the wildcard game will come down to Game 162. Gross. Let’s recap with bullet points:

• Lil’ Luis: Not a great start for Luis Severino. He allowed two runs in the first, including a leadoff homer to Nolan Reimold. A Steve Pearce double drove in the other run. Manny Machado hit a solo homer in the third, but Severino did settle down after the first, retiring 19 of the final 21 batters he faced. Three runs on five hits and no walks in seven innings is fine. Not great, not awful. Winnable. Usually. Just not Saturday night.
• Rally Back: To their credit, the Yankees did rally to tie the game in the middle innings. Didi Gregorius drove in their first run with a sacrifice fly in the third, then, in the fifth, Slade Heathcott dropped a base hit in front of Pearce in right to score a run. Rob Refsnyder (double) and Gregorius (single) set the inning up. Ubaldo Jimenez plunked Jacoby Ellsbury to load the bases and walked Carlos Beltran to force in the tying run. Brian McCann flew out with the bases loaded to end the inning, which, blah. At least the game was tied.
• Blownpen: Severino threw 91 pitches in his seven innings, and while it’s easy to say he should have gone out for the eighth, remember this is a 21-year-old kid who has already thrown 48.2 innings more than his previous career high. Dellin Betances came out of the bullpen, and two singles and two wild pitches later, the O’s had the 4-3 lead. They weren’t hard hits — a bloop single and a bunt single — but they were hits nonetheless. McCann totally whiffed on the run-scoring wild pitch. Last year he allowed 78 wild pitches plus passed balls. This year? 104! It cost them Saturday. Dellin did strike out the side, but that doesn’t make me feel any better.
• Leftovers: Severino threw at Paul Janish (!?) for some reason in the fifth inning. It was really bad. Up around his head. No idea what that was about. Maybe retaliation for Ellsbury getting hit in the previous inning? That seems silly. Either way, both benches were warned … the Yankees had six hits, two by Refsnyder and one each by Greg Bird, Gregorius, Heathcott, and Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod pinch-hit in the ninth, singled, and pinch-runner Rico Noel was picked off … the top four spots in the lineup went a combined 0-for-12.

Here are the box score and video highlights, and here are the updated standings and postseason odds. The Astros beat up on the Diamondbacks again, so it will still take a Yankees win or an Astros loss to clinch home field advantage Sunday. Anyway, check out our Bullpen Workload and Announcer Standings pages. The Yankees wrap up their season Sunday afternoon. It’ll be Michael Pineda against Chris Tillman. Unbelievably, that game is meaningful.