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Yankees takeaways from Friday's 8-4 loss to Dodgers, including Luis Severino's nightmare first inning

Jun 2, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; New York Yankees starting pitcher Luis Severino (40) throws in the second inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.

Luis Severino gave up six first-inning runs as the Yankees fell to the Dodgers, 8-4 in Los Angeles on Friday night.

Takeaways

- The story of this game was the first inning, which was a nightmare for Severino. He first gave up a leadoff homer to Mookie Betts, and then after getting Freddie Freeman to ground out, the Dodgers strung together six straight hits including a Max Muncy two-run homer to put them ahead 4-0. A Miguel Rojas sac fly and a Betts single put LA up 6-0. Jose Trevino picked off James Outman at third base to mercifully end the inning after 34 pitches and eight hits.

Severino would continue to pitch -- giving up a J.D. Martinez solo home run in the process -- but somehow got through four innings. He gave up nine hits, seven runs, one walk and struck out two. His fastball was slower than his last starts and everything was flat. The broadcast questioned whether Severino was tipping his pitches because of how hard his pitches were being hit.

- Future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw had a bad month of May but started off June with a great outing. Kershaw would go seven innings, scattering four hits, one walk and giving up just two runs. He also struck out nine batters. It only took the lefty 96 pitches to go that long on Friday night.

- The big story from the Yankees was the returns of Giancarlo Stanton, Josh Donaldson and Tommy Kahnle from the injured list. All three would be involved in this game in various ways.

Donaldson got the Yankees scoring started with a monster 446-foot homer and Stanton hit a solo home run of his own to cut the Dodger lead to 7-2. Donaldson would add a two-run homer in the ninth inning to put the cut the deficit to 8-4. Stanton went 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs. Donaldson finished 2-for-4 with the two jacks.

Kahnle relieved Severino in the fifth inning, going one inning while giving up a walk and a hit. Ryan Weber went two innings but gave up a Betts solo shot while Albert Abreu got a clean inning to round out the effort from the Yankees bullpen.

- Gleyber Torres extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a first-inning single while Freeman went hitless and broke his 20-game hitting streak.

Anthony Rizzo returned to the lineup after missing the Seattle series. He went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. Aaron Judge had a rough night in Hollywood, going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts of his own.

Betts' second homer of the night gave the Dodgers their eighth run. It's the second straight game the Dodger outfielder hit two home runs in one game. He finished 4-for-4.

Highlights

What’s Next

The Yankees continue their three-game series against the Dodgers on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 7:15 p.m..

Gerrit Cole (6-0, 2.93 ERA) will be on the mound for the Yankees as he goes up against RHP Michael Grove (0-1, 8.44 ERA).