Bright spots, Luis Severino, DJ LeMahieu, Chad Green and Gleyber Torres highlighted the New York Yankees game three loss to the Houston Astros in the American League Championship Series.
Had it not been for Astros ace Gerrit Cole’s stellar performance, Yankees fans might have been satisfied with Severino’s 4.1 innings of five-hit ball.  He gave up two home runs – the only runs scored by an Astros offense that scores runs in bunches. When Severino left the game, the Yankees were down by only two runs with plenty of game left.
The New York Yankees hoped Luis Severino could handle the load:
Severino’s performance comes on the heels of a regular season in which he threw only 12 innings.  He was reportedly injured, suffering right shoulder cuff inflammation and a Grade 2 lat strain.  He was out from March 28th until September 17th. Yankees fans have to be encouraged by Severino’s performance at this point in his career against the most potent offense in the league.
Chad Green followed Severino and gave a playoff-level performance. He stranded the two runners he inherited. He struck out one in two-thirds of an inning. Chad Green is spectacular after such a rough start to the season.  He was demoted between April 24th and May 12th. Since his recall, he’s been a significant contributor to the Yankees pitching success this season.
Green was an opener and a reliever this season for the Yankees, starting 15 games. His numbers shrunk over the course of the season from an early ERA of 17.55 for April to his last 30 games when he went 2.68 with a 1.01 WHIP. Green’s improvement was crucial to the Yankees 103 win season.
The Yankees offense could not sustain a rally against Cole and failed to score against him. DJ LeMahieu, however, had two hits off Cole but was unable to score the runners on base ahead of him when the opportunity arose. However, you have to tip your hat to The Machine who batted .386 against Cole for the game, touching him up for two hits in five at-bats, since in 2018 he’d batted .111 against him with only 2 hits in 18 at-bats. LeMahieu continued to be the Yankees hottest hitter.
Gleyber Torres also continued his torrid run towards Yankee immortality, hitting yet another blast, not off Cole against whom he went hitless, but off Houston reliever Joe Smith. Torres has had an impressive sophomore campaign for the Yankees in 2019 batting .278 with 38 home runs, a power display that surprised even Torres himself.
The broad view of the ALCS is that though the Yankees are down 2-1 there are still games to be played and opportunities to be capitalized on. The Yankees have the talent to not only compete but to win at the highest level; however, you can’t blame them for wishing for a rain-out on Wednesday to give them time to rest Masahiro Tanaka for a possible game four start, thus bypassing what would be an opener day for them.
Looking forward to a Yankee victory in game four behind the efforts of not only these Yankee stars but the team as a whole.