Luis

Severino

The run came in the first on a very odd play. Singles from Bobby Witt Jr. and Carter Jensen put runners on the corners with one out. Salvador Perez then broke his bat on a soft liner to short that Jacob Wilson either dropped intentionally or got spooked by a bat shard. Wilson picked the ball up and threw to second for an out, but Witt scored just ahead of the relay home. Severino went on to strike out eight and walk two in his second win of the year. It’s just his fourth quality start in 18 tries in home games in Sacramento since he signed with the A’s a year ago. He’ll pitch in Philadelphia next week.

Severino cruised through this one. His offense spotted him a three-run lead before he even took the mound and he was in control throughout. Outside of two doubles by Corey Seager and Josh Jung in the fourth inning, there was only one other instance of a Ranger reaching scoring position off Severino. And that came in the seventh inning when Hogan Harris relieved him and put out the fire. This was Severino’s second time completing six innings in his last three starts and he’ll try to keep that positive momentum rolling in his next start against the Royals.

Severino pitched a clean first inning, then served up a solo homer to Colson Montgomery and a three-run blast to Andrew Benintendi in a five-run second inning. Severino would pitch into the sixth, leaving with one out and two runners on at 96 pitches. He struck out three. The 32-year-old right-hander ends the day with a 6.20 ERA, 1.70 WHIP, and a 27/20 K/BB ratio across 24 2/3 innings. He’ll take on the Rangers in Texas on Friday.

This would have been a very solid outing for Severino if not for Jake Burger. Unfortunately for Severino and the A’s, Burger took him deep twice — one solo, one three-run shot — so it was just a mediocre outing; albeit one that passed the eye test more so than his previous few outings. The 32-year-old struck out seven while issuing three walks, and saw his ERA climb to 5.59 on the campaign. He does have a friendly matchup on paper over the weekend against the White Sox, for those looking to take an early chance.

Severino kept up with the pace that had seen him walk eight in 8 1/3 innings coming into the night. Fortunately, he was able to strike out seven and induce inning-ending double play balls in the second and fourth innings. Largely because of the walks, Severino has a 5.40 ERA, even though he’s yet to give up a homer in three starts. He’ll make his next start at home against the Rangers.

The right-hander threw only 53 percent of his pitches for strikes and walked five on the day. He did produce 15 whiffs and a 17 percent swinging strike rate, which led to seven strikeouts, but he was behind in counts far too often. It’s nice that his velocity is up this season, and his cutter and four-seamer do look more impactful as whiff pitches this year; however, his hitter-friendly home park and poor command will make him just a deeper league streamer when he’s on the road.

Severino was solid through the first 4 1/3 innings, but things turned disastrous in the fifth inning when a walk to Kazuma Okamoto and a double allowed to Ernie Clement put runners on second and third with one out. A misplayed ball by outfielders Denzel Clarke and Tyler Soderstrom resulted in a two-RBI triple for Andrés Giménez, which gave the Jays a 2-1 lead. Severino would make it out of the inning, but did not return in the sixth. It was an unfortunate ending for Severino, who allowed just three hits on the night. His next start is scheduled for Wednesday against the Braves, where he will oppose Chris Sale.

Severino’s velocity was up a bit in his lone spring start for the A’s and climbed further in the World Baseball Classic starts for the Dominican Republic, with his average fastball against Team USA on Sunday coming in at 98.6 mph. Tonight, though, he was back down to 96.0 mph, which is essentially what he averaged last year (96.1 mph). Unless tonight’s the fluke, he’s probably not going to be useful in mixed leagues in a really tough situation for pitchers in Sacramento.

It’s the second straight Opening Day assignment for Severino since joining the Athletics — and the third overall in his career. He has been significantly better on the road than he has been at home with the A’s, especially in Sutter Health Park, so perhaps he could be worth a look as a streaming option for Friday’s opener.

Severino’s velocity has been up since his spring debut, but he was especially amped tonight, topping out at 99.8 mph. HIs 98.6 mph average on his fastball was up 2.5 mph from last year. It definitely makes him more interesting for fantasy purposes, but it’s hard to say whether it will hold up, and he’s still pitching half of the time in a fantastic ballpark for hitters in Sacramento.