Luis Severino joins elite Yankees club with 14 wins by break, says he ‘can be better’

Yankees ace Luis Severino won Saturday in Toronto despite not having his best stuff in a three-run, five-inning start against the Blue Jays.

TORONTO — Yankees ace Luis Severino wasn’t happy about leaving Saturday’s 8-5 win over the Toronto Blue Jays after five innings even though his pitch count was up to 97 and his club was ahead four runs.

Told he was done on a day his stuff wasn’t sharp, Severino campaigned to manager Aaron Boone to go back out for the sixth.

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“I told him, ‘Give me at least 10 more pitches,'” Severino said. “(Friday) was a bad day for the bullpen, so I wanted to give it a little bit of rest.”

Severino didn’t get his way this time.

“I think having a four-run lead at the time, he’s too important to push through and try to squeeze another inning out of him there,” Boone said. “But he’s been everything you want an ace to be.”

Sure has.

Thanks to the Yankees bats teeing off on Blue Jays 10-game winner J.A. Happ on Saturday, Severino’s three-run, five-inning outing was good enough to get another win.

This one hiked his record to 14-2 with one first-half start remaining, and it made him a fourth member to an exclusive Yankees club of pitchers with 14 wins before the All-Star break. The only others are Hall of Famers Lefty Gomez (14-2 in 1934) and Whitey Ford (16-2 in 1961), and Mel Stottlemyre (14-7 in 1969).

“That’s great,” Severino said. “We have a great team. That’s the reason why. We’re scoring a bunch of runs. Today I wasn’t that good, but my team was there to help me. I’m very proud of the team that we have.”

Severino said in spring training that he wanted to top his breakout 2017 season, which included a 14-6 record with a 2.98 ERA, a first trip to the All-Star Game and a third-place finish in the AL Cy Young voting in his first full season as a starter.

He’s doing it in a big way, and at the still-young age of 24.

Besides his 14-2 record, Severino’s 2.12 ERA is second best in the AL, plus he’s third in innings (123.1), seventh in strikeouts (143) and tied for fifth in WHIP (0.96).

Not surprisingly, everyone but Severino seems thrilled.

Asked if he’s reached his 2018 expectations or he’s exceeding them so far, Severino answered, “I think I’m right there. I think I can work more. I can be better. We have a great team and I think if I get better, the season is going to get better.”

Get better?

That would be something.

Severino will be getting a reward for his great first half on Sunday when the rosters are released for the 2017 All-Star Game, which is scheduled for July 17 in Washington, D.C.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone is hoping Severino is chosen as the AL starter, and it’ll be all set up to occur as he’d be working on regular rest after making his final first-half start next Thursday in Cleveland.

“I’d love to see him start and go one inning,” Boone said “I certainly think he’s as deserving as anyone. Look, there’s a handful of great pitchers in this league that could make a claim to get that honor and Sevy’s probably at the top of that list.”

Severino, of course, would like the nod, too. For now though, he’s playing the possibility down. After all, he has a shot at getting a 15th win before the break.

“I would be happy to start, but right now I’m just going to focus on my next start against the Cleveland Indians and if they decide to put me there I’ll be happy,” Severino said. “But there are a bunch of good starters that deserve that.”

Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.