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Yankees downplay Severino's 8-minute pre-game warmup

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Prior to Game 3 of the American League Division Series, starter Luis Severino headed out to the Yankee Stadium bullpen to get his pre-game work in 12 minutes before first pitch, and didn't start warming up until eight minutes before game time.

The abbreviated warmup for the New York Yankees ace raised some eyebrows on the YES Network broadcast, who made implications that Severino may have been unaware that the game started at 7:40 p.m.

In the TBS video, it appears as though pitching coach Larry Rothschild is reminding Severino of the 7:40 p.m. start time during his bullpen session.

Severino wound up lasting three innings against the Boston Red Sox in the 16-1 rout, facing three hitters in the fourth inning but failing to retire any. Over the three frames, the 24-year-old right-hander allowed six earned runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out a pair.

"I always go to the bullpen 10 minutes before the game and warm up quickly," Severino told Matt Ehalt of NorthJersey.com after the contest.

Faced with questions in the post-game presser, manager Aaron Boone defended his starter.

"No, he got his normal pitches routine, faced his couple hitters down there," Boone replied regarding whether Severino showed up late to the bullpen, according to ASAP Sports. "So no, no issue with that.

"... He had plenty of warm up," Boone later continued when asked for clarity about footage from the TBS broadcast. "He had what he intended to go down there and get done, and Larry (Rothschild) said he was able to get through his normal routine, where he faces a couple hitters and everything. So it wasn't an issue."

"He does a lot inside and the comes out a little bit later than most starters," Rothschild said after the game, per Brendan Kuty of NJ.com. "But he left the bullpen, he had faced two hitters with signs. He had done his complete long toss. ... The problem occurred in the third inning, not the first inning. So if there was a difference in his warm ups, he had already thrown 44 pitches before all that stuff happened."

Despite running into trouble in the third and fourth, Severino didn't look especially sharp off the top, allowing one run on two hits in the second inning. The budding ace also left his fastball in the middle of the zone to start the tilt against both Mookie Betts and Andrew Benintendi, though both hitters hit fly balls to the warning track.

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