Luis Severino Struggles Mightily in Mets Debut

In the first start of what Luis Severino hopes will be a bounceback year, things didn’t go quite like he envisioned.

Severino suited up in orange and blue for his first official regular season appearance with his former team’s crosstown rival on Saturday. Though the spring brought some signs that Severino might be primed to return to his dominant form, he opened his Mets career with an uneven performance. His control was fine — he struck out six and didn’t issue any walks — but he got hit around by the Milwaukee Brewers, especially on his slider. He allowed six runs on 12 hits in five innings of work.

After reaching 98 mph with his fastball during spring training, it sat more in the 95-96 range early in his debut. He caught a tough break on the second batter of the game, inducing a weak ground ball from William Contreras that third baseman Zack Short couldn’t handle. Christian Yelich then blooped an up-and-in, 95 mph fastball into left field that set the table for Milwaukee.

While the first two hits could be attributed to some bad luck, the inning’s next two were more clearly on Severino. Willy Adames lined a double off a flat changeup down the middle of the plate to get the Brewers on the board. Severino briefly responded with a strikeout of Jake Bauers, dialing his fastball up to 98 and finishing him off with a firm slider.

But then Rhys Hoskins showed up.

Hoskins’ quarrel with Jeff McNeil became the story of the Mets’ Opening Day, and the fans sure let him hear it with a chorus of boos as he stepped in the box. But it only seemed to energize Hoskins. The former Phillie turned on a 97 mph sinker on the inner part of the plate, ripping it down the left field line to bring in two more runs.

Severino had little movement on his slider, a pitch that’s been nasty in the past when Severino has succeeded. He threw 21 sliders total and didn’t generate a single whiff. The pitch averaged 85.9 mph — but the problem wasn’t really its speed, rather its lack of sufficient break. His fastball hovered in the mid-90s range and ended up averaging 95.5 mph overall. His fastball induced just two whiffs out of 24 swings.

Though he didn’t allow any runs in the second inning, he still gave up two hits, one of which was a 96.6 mph shot by Jackson Chourio against a slider.

Adames collected his second hit of the game against another slider to lead off the third inning. Two batters later, Severino left a slider right over the middle of the zone for the Mets’ greatest enemy of the week, Hoskins, who slammed it 107.4 mph and 388 feet to make it 5-0 Brewers.

“They hit a bunch of base hits. And then, Jesus Christ, what’s the name of that guy? The DH?” Severino told media after the game, as tweeted by Tim Healey of Newsday. “Hoskins got me for a homer on a breaking pitch right in the middle. The breaking ball was not there today.”

The first three batters of the fourth inning all hit the ball over 100 mph. Sal Frelick lined out, Contreras singled, and Yelich flew out to Harrison Bader in center. The first two batted balls were on fastballs of 93.5 and 95.9 mph, respectively, while the hard Yelich flyout came on an 85.4 mph changeup.

Severino came back for a fifth inning of work and started it with a three-pitch strikeout of Bauers, whose number he appeared to have on Saturday. He completed the strikeout with the lone whiff that his changeup induced among the eight that he threw.

But Hoskins continued to haunt Severino’s nightmares — and that of the Mets, for that matter. He knocked a changeup into center field to put a runner on for Milwaukee. On the very next pitch, Oliver Dunn singled on a fastball that notably clocked in at only 91.9 mph. Severino’s performance got ugly as he committed a balk on a pickoff attempt, bringing the sixth Brewers run of the afternoon.

He managed to stop the damage there, completing his outing with a strikeout of Chourio on an elevated fastball at 96. It was more reminiscent of prime Severino, but he wasn’t anywhere near consistent enough with pitches like that to give the Mets a competitive outing.

Severino suffered from a downtick in stuff more than any kind of struggles with command or location. His fastball only reached 97-98 a few times; it otherwise floated in the mid-90s and got put in play 22 times. His slider looked flat and wasn’t an out pitch at all.

For what it’s worth, Severino had no problems finding the zone. He threw 67 of his 88 pitches for strikes (76%), and his strike0ut-to-walk ratio of 6-0 won’t garner any complaints. But his stuff was hittable, and that’s the greatest concern going forward for the right-hander, who has something to prove in a Mets uniform.

Severino is on a one-year contract trying to re-establish himself after a rough showing for the Yankees last season. And while there’s plenty of time for him to turn things around, his Mets career didn’t get off to a good start on Saturday.