ARLINGTON, Tex. — As the Yankees have flexed their considerable muscle in the last month, giving the rest of baseball a peek at what an Evil Empire reprise might look like, an often-overlooked component of their sizzling run has been their starting pitching.
Still, October is a long way off and engendering confidence that anyone in the rotation beyond ace Luis Severino can regularly deliver command performances is a shaky proposition.
Some insurance for C.C. Sabathia’s fragile knee, Masahiro Tanaka’s balky splitter and Sonny Gray’s case of the nibbles would seem in order.
So, as the Yankees look for ways to separate themselves from the Boston Red Sox in the coming months — and perhaps later the defending champion Houston Astros and the Cleveland Indians — it may be hard to get Tuesday night’s game out of their heads.