NEW YORK — Luis Severino was placed on the injured list Saturday and may have thrown his last pitch for the New York Yankees.
After Saturday’s 9-2 loss to Milwaukee, the Yankees said Severino has a high-grade left oblique strain and will miss the rest of the season.
Severino left his start against Milwaukee in the fifth inning Friday night following a leadoff single to Brice Turang on a 92 mph fastball.
After throwing his 70th pitch, Severino dropped his glove in front of the mound, doubled over in pain and walked around the mound. The 29-year-old was holding his left side near his oblique and was replaced by Jhony Brito after being checked out by an athletic trainer and manager Aaron Boone.
“I feel like somebody shot me. It’s just like a deep sharp pain,” an emotional Severino said while struggling to hold back tears.
Eligible for free agency after this season, Severino is 4-8 with an 6.65 ERA, though he had been 2-0 in three starts entering Friday after going 0-4 with a 14.18 ERA in his previous four appearances.
“I know he was really starting to be in that good place to hopefully have a really strong finish to the season and put himself in a good spot and really have some momentum going into the offseason,” Boone said before Saturday’s game against Milwaukee.
Severino did not make his season debut until May 21 because of a strained latissimus dorsi muscle. He is earning $15 million in the option year of contract paying him $55 million over five seasons.
He went 19-8 in 2018 and was picked as an All-Star for the second year in a row but is 13-12 with a 4.47 ERA in 45 starts since. Severino made his major league debut in August 2015 and is 54-37 with a 3.79 ERA in 141 games (125 starts).
“That’s a tough one,” said Yankee captain Aaron Judge, who debuted one year after Severino. “Coming with Sevy all through the years, I just know the type of competitor he is. He leaves it out there every single day, the setbacks he’s had through his career and continuing to show up and it could be one of the last times he throws here at Yankee Stadium. I really don’t know if I have the words just yet.”
In 2019, he strained a lat muscle and didn’t make his first start until Sept. 17. He made two more starts in the postseason and then had Tommy John surgery on Feb. 27, 2020. Severino returned in September 2021 and made three appearances, then missed two months last season because of right shoulder tightness.
“He’s obviously at times been a great pitcher,” Boone said. “The start of his career as a starter was so promising. He really was one of the dominant starters and even through the injuries that he’s experienced over the last few years, when he has been healthy, he’s shown you that performance when he has been healthy and then this year really struggled for the first time.”
The Yankees recalled reliever Ron Marinaccio from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre to replace Severino on the roster.
Marinaccio is 4-5 with two saves and a 3.99 ERA in 45 appearances for the Yankees this year. The right-hander was 0-2 with a 7.11 ERA in his last 11 outings before being optioned to Triple-A on July 31.