Severino walked two batters while recording only one strikeout on the evening. The lone blemish on his day came on a two-out RBI double by Salvador Perez in the opening inning. After that, Severino was in complete command. Remarkably, he got just one swing and miss on 104 pitches in the game, posting a miserable CSW of 19 percent. Yet somehow he mixed and matched his pitches well enough to keep the Royals off-balance and generated weak contact all night. He’ll try to replicate this wizardry when he carries a 4.47 ERA, 1.30 WHIP and a 61/29 K/BB ratio (90 2/3 innings) into Wednesday’s battle against the Astros.

Since getting lit up by the Yankees on May 11, Severino has allowed just three earned runs over 18 innings. Unfortunately, the A’s just can’t seem to do much of anything for him, and he’s been stuck on one win for over a month now. He’ll pitch at home against the Twins next time out. He thus far has a 6.20 ERA in Sacramento, compared to a 0.87 ERA in his five road starts.