Overall, the bag end of the starting staff performed pretty average in my eyes. There were some flashes of strong promise and some things that just made me shake my head. Here are my reactions:
C.C. Sabathia in 2011. Credit Barton Silverman/The New York Times
Eovaldi: Another subpar start by a pitcher who is expected to do big things this season. Eovaldi gave up five earned on six hits through 5 innings pitched. He most notably gave up back to back home runs in the second inning to put the Yanks in an early hole. He was able to strike out 7 and the Yankees did come back to win the game, so I guess there’s no reason to be too upset with his performance.
Severino: While Severino got absolutely no help from the Yankees bats, he didn’t do himself any favors either, and quite frankly should have suffered an ERA much worse than he did. He got smacked for 10 hits over 5 innings of work, however only conceded 3 earned runs. His ability to get out of jams was promising, but I think we would all have much less anxiety if he didn’t get into the jams in the first place.
Sabathia: Leave it to C.C. to have the Yankees best start over the first 5 games of the season. Sabathia put in a very solid 6 innings of work, giving up three earned runs on four hits. A worry for fans however is the four walks that he conceded. Control has always been a bit of an issue for C.C., so hopefully this season it’s not any worse than it has been in the past. Either way, his start to the season was more promising than anything.
~Gregory Hold