This was a titillating reminder of who he was and what the Yankees hope and pray he will be again.

Luis Severino (five shutout innings, two hits, six strikeouts) waited two long years for this feeling, when he could toy with MLB hitters again, when he could dominate again, and imagine the limitless promise and possibilities of his youth again, before Tommy John surgery changed everything for him, and so much for the Yankees.

He had resembled an ace — a two-time All-Star rewarded in February 2019 with a four-year, $40 million extension — and then he was just a fallen star forced to stage a heart-and-soul-testing comeback with no guarantees about how far he could come back.

And starting in the third inning and lasting through the fifth on a cool, rain-delayed night in The Bronx, Luis Severino delivered an 86-pitch electric jolt to the psyche of the Yankees universe, not to mention his own.

When he showed up as the 2018 Luis Severino.

The Yankees, 3-0 winners at the Stadium after Cuban Missile Aroldis Chapman blew up on the launch pad and had to be rescued in the ninth by Michael King, earned a split of their four-game series with the BlueJays. But the greater and more significant triumph was the prospect of a revitalized Severino partnering with Gerrit Cole, even before Max Scherzer will be able to partner with Jacob deGrom on the other side of town.

“They give me the ball, I want to compete, that’s my main thing try to help my team,” Severino said. “Not only for me [but] for the fans. I’ve been away for a long time. I want to go out there compete and show the fans that I still have it.”

I asked Severino: Do you feel like you still have it?

“Oh, of course I do,” he said.

Severino had escaped a bases-loaded, two-out jam — created after an Anthony Rizzo error that prolonged the second inning — by getting Bo Bichette to roll to Josh Donaldson, and his pitch count had already reached 44.

But from that point on, he was The Ghost of Sevy Past.

He struck out Vladimir Guerrero Jr. looking at a 95 mph four-seam fastball before getting Lourdes Gurriel Jr. looking at a 97 mph four-seamer before retiring Raimel Tapia on a harmless roller in front of the mound.

A leadoff walk in the fourth did not discourage him. Cavan Biggio whiffed on an 0-2 changeup, and Santiago Espinal went down swinging at an 0-2 slider.

“He has a lot of confidence in the changeup to both right- and lefthanded hitters,” manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s a pitch that’s come for him as he’s worked his way back, and it’s definitely, I think, even added some confidence for him.”

And when Severino punched out Guerrero flailing at a 90 mph change up to end the fifth, and his night, he punched the air with his right fist, and exulted, who could blame him?

“After all the stuff that I’ve been through like my injuries, it’s been like my best pitch so far,” Severino said.

Yankees Twitter revealed a photo of Severino, mouth opened wide, with the tweet:

He is Sevy. Hear him roar.

“I knew that was last hitter, so I knew if I didn’t get Guerrero there, I was going to be out,” Severino said. “I think I haven’t thrown five innings in forever.”

He pitched 12 innings in 2019. He didn’t pitch in 2020. He was sabotaged by shoulder tightness and a groin strain and pitched 20 ¹/₃ innings in 2021.

Severino had offered encouraging glimpses in the condensed spring training, and again in his three-inning start on April 9 against Boston, but on this night, there were unmistakable flashbacks to the young phenom.

“I’m not the pitching expert, but I do feel like he’s really found his delivery, and he’s under control,” Boone said, “and I think along with that, his stuff has been there. … He hasn’t had to go force his stuff or reach for it. He’s under control, and it’s coming out like Luis Severino. And I think that’s given him a lot of peace of mind, a lot of confidence. … so just encouraged about where he’s at.”

How close is Severino to being all the way back?

“I feel pretty good,” Severino said. “Everything is there, fastball is there, changeup, slider.”

Luis Severino is still just 28 years old. If he can keep the magic in that electric right arm from disappearing again, it will change the course of a career, and a season.