PHILADELPHIA — Luis Severino responded.
The Bulldog starters, who stayed healthy all season for the first time since 2018, had a little more left in the tank at the turn of the year for the 33rd time.
In the sixth inning, the right-hander understood the threat posed by Bryce Harper and threw a 99 mph fastball, the hardest pitch of the afternoon and the third fastest he's thrown this year.
But Harper's vest was better.
Severino pitched brilliantly through the fifth inning and had two hard hits in the sixth inning of Sunday's 7-6 loss to the Phillies in Game 2 at Citizens Bank Park. One of those hits was by Harper.
Severino continued pitching for five innings until he was abruptly stopped in the sixth inning.
Manager Carlos Mendoza trusted his starter for the third time through the Phillies' lineup, he said, partly because he believed in him and partly because his options were limited in an overworked bullpen.
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In a game-changing inning for Severino, he recorded two quick outs before Trea Turner hit a single.
Severino said pitching coach Jeremy Hefner came to Severino with a message to “be careful” with Harper and not let him hit too much.
In a game against Philadelphia on September 14, Harper hit home runs in the fourth and sixth innings, overturning Severino's batting lineup.
Severino wasn't paying enough attention and the same thing happened again. Harper geared up for a powered-up Severino and hit a huge shot from center that spun at 99 mph and bounced off the center bushes an estimated 431 feet away.
“I was trying to get up and run,” Severino said. “I tried to throw the pitch I was aiming for, but it went right into the middle.”
The packed crowd, who had been asleep, was woken up by a still deafening sound when the volume rose again two pitches later.
Nick Castellanos beat a sweeper over the plate 425 feet to left-center field, and Edwin Diaz and Tyler Megill took the mound in the eighth and ninth innings to tie the game, which the Mets would lose.
Severino ultimately escaped the inning, capping off a six-inning, three-run outing in which he allowed as many hits (three) in six innings as he had in the first five innings combined.
“I don't care about it after the third time, considering the way he throws the baseball.” [the order]he's pitching really well,'' said Mendoza, who felt like his hands were tied to a depleted bullpen. “And… if I pull him early, they're going to have to cover 12 outs, and that wasn't the case today.”
The trip was challenging for Severino not only because of the increased workload, but also because he had faced this Phillies lineup twice in mid-September, and familiarity generally favored the batters. It became a thing.
However, until the fifth inning, the pitcher seemed to have the upper hand. Severino was prepared for a powerful but not very disciplined attack.
The Phillies forced pitches out of the strike zone the seventh most times in baseball this season, but Severino was just barely alive outside the plate.
He threw the fastest pitch of the game and was nearly unscathed until he saw it disappear.
“It doesn't matter how hard you throw,” Severino said. “They will fight back even harder.”
