There are nights Aaron Boone truly doesn’t know what he’s going to get from his rotation.
Except when Luis Severino is on the mound.
“Sevy really continues to cement himself as an ace in this league,” Boone said late Wednesday afternoon.
That process continued a few hours later as Severino threw seven dominant innings against the defending champion Astros in a 5-3 Yankees victory in front of 45,229 at the Stadium.
The victory allowed the Yankees (35-17) to take two of three from the Astros (35-22) here and five of seven this season.
Severino (8-1, 2.31) struck out seven of the first nine batters he faced and retired the first 11 overall, en route to allowing two runs and four hits. Severino, who struck out 10 and walked one May 2 when he notched his first career shutout in Houston, walked one and struck out 11 Wednesday.
He made one mistake Wednesday, a 99-mph fastball on a 2-and-1 pitch with two outs in the fifth that Max Stassi hit out for a 2-1 Astros lead.
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But the Yankees rallied against past tormenter Dallas Keuchel, getting a two-run single in the bottom of the fifth by Gary Sanchez, which snapped an 0-for-19 slide and put them back ahead for good at 3-2.
Aroldis Chapman allowed an RBI double to Stassi with two outs in the ninth but struck out George Springer, the potential tying run, for his 12th save.
Keuchel, who went 6-2 with a 1.09 ERA over his first eight career starts against the Yankees before getting hammered in Game 5 of last year’s ALCS and then allowing three runs and six hits in seven innings of a loss on May 2, lasted five-plus innings Wednesday. Keuchel (3-7) allowed four runs, seven hits and three walks. The lefthander struck out seven.
After Severino struck out two in a perfect 12-pitch first, the Yankees went to work in a 28-pitch bottom half. Aaron Hicks, hitting leadoff with Brett Gardner getting the night off against a lefthander, drew a walk. Aaron Judge then continued hammering opposing team pitching, especially at home, lining a single to left that put Hicks on third. Judge went 2-for-4 and is 38 for 109 (.349) with 12 homers and 33 RBIs in 31 games at the Stadium this season.
Giancarlo Stanton, in a 1-for-20 skid, ripped one into the gap in right-center where centerfielder Jake Marisnick made a terrific diving catch to rob the leftfielder of a hit. Hicks scored on the sacrifice fly to make it 1-0.
The hardest hit ball the Astros had in the early innings was Tony Kemp’s liner that clipped Severino’s glove leading off the fourth. Severino retrieved the ball and easily threw him out. After Alex Bregman flied to center, Houston got its first hit when reigning AL MVP Jose Altuve singled to right.
The Yankees rallied in the fifth after Stassi’s homer. Austin Romine hit a one-out singe, extending his hitting streak to nine games. After Hicks struck out, Judge flared a single to right, putting runners on the corners for Stanton, who fell behind 0-and-2. Stanton fought back to draw a walk to load the bases. Sanchez fell behind 0-and-2, eventually punching a 1-and-2 fastball to right for two-run single.
After Severino needed eight pitches to retire the Astros in the top of the sixth, Gleyber Torres, whose walk-off in the 10th won Tuesday’s game, opened the bottom half with a double to left. He went to third on a wild pitch. Didi Gregorius followed by stinging a fastball to right, the RBI single making it 4-2 and ending Keuchel’s night as righty Collin McHugh came on.
After Gregorius was thrown out trying to steal second, Romine walked. Hicks then sliced a blooper to left that Marwin Gonzalez made a dive attempt on and failed. The ball skipped past him for a double, which allowed Romine to come around from first to make it 5-2.