PHILADELPHIA — Luis Severino doesn’t need a tutorial on the team he is scheduled to face Sunday.
The veteran right-hander faced the Phillies in consecutive September appearances and gave the Mets a quality start in each of them, so muscle memory may serve him well when he walks to the mound at Citizens Bank Park for Game 2 of the NLDS.
“It’s going to be the same lineup and it’s going to be loud, of course,” Severino said Saturday before the Mets’ 6-2 comeback win over the Phillies in Game 1. “They have got a good lineup. If I can manage the big guys like [Bryce] Harper, [Kyle] Schwarber and [Trea] Turner, guys that can hit homers, I think I can be good.”
Severino wasn’t his sharpest in Game 1 of the NL Wild Card Series on Tuesday against the Brewers, but kept the Mets in the game by allowing four runs (one of which was unearned) on eight hits and two walks in the victory. As big as anything that night, he returned to pitch scoreless fifth and sixth innings, allowing manager Carlos Mendoza to preserve the bullpen.
“I thought he battled and then he found a rhythm and found a way to get six and that was huge,” Mendoza said. “A couple of ground balls got through in that first inning, we didn’t make a play [with Mark Vientos], a ground ball got through and we limited the damage. They didn’t chase. That’s one thing with the Brewers: that team doesn’t chase.”
Mendoza has not announced a rotation beyond Severino. But if he follows the same script as the wild-card series, Sean Manaea would be on deck for Tuesday at Citi Field, with Jose Quintana behind him provided the series extends beyond three games.
Severino, who arrived on a one-year contract worth $13 million, has proven to be a bargain for the Mets. First and foremost, he avoided the injured list and took the ball for every turn this season.
Severino allowed two homers his last time pitching in Philadelphia, on Sept. 14, when he surrendered three earned runs over six innings. Five days later at Citi Field, he again allowed three earned runs over six innings. Severino has logged 188 innings this season, but said he’s probably not any more fatigued than most pitchers performing in the postseason.
“October, everybody is tired so it’s nothing new,” Severino said. “Right now I feel really good. A couple of more starts is not going to be a huge deal. The velocity is there, the movement is still there. For some reason I keep having these weird innings that get me to a hundred-and-something pitches, but I feel good.”
Now he’ll brace for 40,000 screaming phanatics in yet another big start for the Mets.
“I’ve been in this atmosphere before — it’s just about making pitches,” Severino said. “At the end it doesn’t matter how loud it is, if you make your pitches you are going to be good. If you miss a pitch you are going to pay for it.”
Severino said the Mets carry a collective chip on their shoulders.
“We were not the favorites to make the playoffs and we [are] not the favorite to win everything,” Severino said. “We know that. We’re going to compete every day.”
