CLEVELAND — Luis Severino’s six-batter outing in Tuesday night’s wild-card game continued to impact the Yankees on Thursday, when they opened the ALDS against the Indians with a 4-0 loss.
Because four relievers had to get 26 outs against the Twins, Joe Girardi had to shuffle his pitching staff for Game 1 of the best-of-five series.
Talking before Sonny Gray was outdueled by Trevor Bauer at Progressive Field in the Yankees’ first postseason series since 2012, Girardi ruled David Robertson and Chad Green unavailable for Game 1 and said he wasn’t sure if he would have the right-handers for Game 2 on Friday, either.
“I hope so, yeah,’’ Girardi said when asked about Robertson and Green for the second tilt.
Because of the short-handed bullpen against the muscular Indians lineup, Girardi added lefty starters Jaime Garcia and Jordan Montgomery to the ALDS roster. Masahiro Tanaka, who is scheduled to start Game 3, also was added.
Garcia got in Thursday’s game and pitched 1 ?/? scoreless innings, walking two and striking out two.
To make room for the trio, lefty reliever Chasen Shreve, outfielder Clint Frazier and utility man Tyler Wade were dropped.
“We went with two longer guys because of what we went through on Tuesday,’’ Girardi said of adding Garcia and Montgomery. “Knowing that if something like that happens again you could really fry your bullpen. Jaime is a guy you can use for shorter or mix and match so that allows you to use Montgomery as a long guy.’’
After opting to use Jacoby Ellsbury as the designated hitter in the wild-card game, Girardi inserted the switch-hitting Chase Headley into the spot Thursday and turned Ellsbury, who went 0-for-4 in that game, into a bench player.
“It’s kind of what we do, we look at-bats against the starting pitching and his at-bats and [Headley’s] at-bats have been a little bit better than Jake’s,’’ Girardi said. “That’s why we went in this direction.’’
Headley went 0-for-2 with a walk in the loss to the Indians.
The situation could change game-to-game depending on what the video shows with Headley and Ellsbury.
“When you have multiple guys for positions that’s what you are going to kind of look at,’’ said Girardi, who doesn’t stop at the numbers. “The quality of the at-bat because you could line out six times and show you 0-for-6 and they were pretty good at-bats.”
It wasn’t a secret the Yankees were hoping to run on Kipnis — the Indians’ second baseman, who played center field in Game 1 — if the chance presented itself. Kipnis was shifted to center when injuries decimated the position and has what some scouts rate as a below average right arm.
“If you can, you will,’’ Girardi said of testing Kipnis’ arm, which wasn’t much on relay plays when he was at second. “Obviously, it comes down to the way he plays center field as much as we can do. If you get a chance you do it.’’
The Yankees didn’t get a chance to run on Kipnis, but he did rob Headley of an extra-base hit in the third inning with a diving catch in the left-center field gap.
The Yankees understand what a subpar arm in center can do because when Girardi started Aaron Hicks in center field for the AL wild-card game and again Thursday night because his arm is much stronger than Ellsbury’s.
CC Sabathia’s advice to Severino was very simple after the young righty was punished by the Twins in the wild-card game.
“Just to stay his self,’’ Sabathia said he told Severino, who lasted six batters, put the Yankees in a 3-0 hole and fried big pieces of the bullpen. “That’s the tough thing, pitching your first playoff game in an elimination game. I think he has a bright future and this will just be a little bump. Nobody will ever think about that start in years to come.’’
Time for a correction: It was reported in this space that Hal Steinbrenner wasn’t slated to be at Yankee Stadium for the AL wild-card game, but he was there.
“Hal has been great. He was around all day Monday when we worked out and I saw him on Tuesday,’’ Girardi said. “I have not seen him here [Cleveland] yet and I am not sure he is here, but he always keeps in contact.’’
Speaking on ESPN Radio on Thursday, Steinbrenner said this is just the beginning of a string of Yankees success.
“There’s no doubt I think we have many good years to come,” Steinbrenner said. “We’ve got a lot of talent down below and it’s going to keep coming.”