MIAMI — Luis Severino won’t be facing the Yankees in the upcoming Subway Series, so he delivered high heat against his former team on Friday instead.
The Mets right-hander, who also didn’t get to face the Yankees last month at Citi Field after manager Carlos Mendoza reconfigured the rotation to start two lefties, said he’s on a group chat in which many of his former teammates from The Bronx have “talked s–t” about him being afraid to face the Yankees.
Severino’s comeback?
“I’m not afraid of those guys. ‘Right now you only have two good hitters,’ ” Severino said, referring to Aaron Judge and Juan Soto. “It’s always a friendly competition.”
Jose Quintana and Sean Manaea are scheduled to face the Yankees, again giving the Mets two lefty starters for the Subway Series.
Quintana was originally supposed to face the Marlins on Sunday but is sick, according to Mendoza, so Christian Scott and David Peterson will each move up a day and pitch Sunday and Monday.
So essentially Mendoza is replacing the lefty Peterson with the lefty Quintana for the Subway Series.
“For some reason the Yankees are not too good against lefties this year,” Severino said. “You only have to walk Judge and after that it will be better. But I understand the logic of lefties because you know Soto hits lefty, [Alex] Verdugo hits lefty and Judge is the only right-hander that hits lefties, so I understand the logic.”
Severino last pitched on July 10 against the Nationals.
He said as soon as that start was complete he began lobbying for the start on Friday, the Mets’ first game following the All-Star break because it would allow him to return five days later for the Subway Series.
But the assignment instead went to Manaea, who pitched five shutout innings against the Yankees last month at Citi Field.
“For us, for me at least, we need to get better and hopefully we’re facing them in the World Series,” said Severino, who spent nine years with the Yankees before arriving to the Mets last winter on a one-year contract worth $13 million.
Severino has been a workhorse with the Mets, leading the team with 109 ²/₃ innings pitched.
Overall, he is 6-3 with a 3.78 ERA in 18 starts this season.
Before his team opened their four-game series against the Marlins, the right-hander recalled how badly the Mets were playing in May during their last visit to loanDepot park.
But the Mets closed the first half with a 27-13 record that had placed them a half-game ahead for the NL’s third wild-card spot as play began.
“The last time we were here the team was real different from what we are right now,” Severino said. “I feel right now we have a shot to be in the playoffs. We are hopefully soon going to have [Kodai] Senga come back, that will be huge for us, and we’ll see what happens.”
Senga is scheduled to pitch Saturday for Triple-A Syracuse in what will likely be his final minor league rehab appearance before he’s activated from the injured list.
Severino was asked what the Japanese right-hander will mean to the Mets.
“We are going to trade for an ace [to start] the second half,” Severino said. “It’s amazing, having him in the front of the rotation … I think it’s going to be great.”
