MLB playoffs 2018: YES Network’s John Flaherty calls out Yankees’ Luis Severino

YES analyst John Flaherty, a former Yankees catcher, called out Luis Severino for starting his warmup late before Game 3 of the ALDS.

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NEW YORK — John Flaherty was skeptical, to say the least.

The YES announcer and ex-Yankees catcher said he wasn’t on board with New York starting pitcher Luis Severino arriving to the bullpen to warm up with less than 10 minutes to spare before getting drubbed in a 16-1 loss to the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium in Game 3 of the American League Division Series on Monday.

“There is no way you can go on a big-league bullpen mound eight minutes before the scheduled first pitch and expect to be ready,” Flaherty said, via an email from a YES spokesman.

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The 50-year-old retired backstop, nicknamed “Flash,” played 14 seasons in the majors. He spent the final three with the Yankees. He also played with Tampa Bay, Detroit, Boston and San Diego.

Controversy swirled early in the game Monday when TBS analyst and Ron Darling, a former big-league pitcher, said he wondered if Severino didn’t realize the game’s first pitch was scheduled for 7:40 p.m. when he saw that the right-hander didn’t enter the bullpen until 7:32 p.m.

Darling said to warm up just eight minutes before first pitch appeared to be way too late.

Severino ended up getting pounded for six runs in three-plus innings — the worst outing of his professional career, considering what was on the line.

Afterward, Severino blasted Darling, saying that was part of his normal routine — showing up at that time to the bullpen — and that he doesn’t even know who Darling, a former All-Star and current SNY analyst, is.

“If my pitching coach said that to you, you could believe it,” Severino said. “But whatever he says, he’s not always in the bullpen. How would he know that? How would he know what time I go out? I came out 20 minutes before the game, like I always do. I don’t know what he was saying.”

Pitching coach Larry Rothschild had Severino’s back.

“And he didn’t rush to get in or any of that stuff,” Rothschild said. “He was able to sit down for three or four minutes and go out. The problem occurred in the third inning, not the first inning. So if there was a difference in his warmups, he had already thrown 44 pitches before all that stuff happened.”

Brendan Kuty may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.