Yankees Game 112: Severino struggles in return to rotation

Luis Severino struggled and a pair of baserunning miscues loom large in tonight's New York Yankees loss.

New York Yankees 3 – Boston Red Sox 5

The Yankees entered Fenway Park for a three-game series with the Boston Red Sox.

After a scoreless first inning against Rick Porcello, the Yankees used the hitter-friendly ballpark to their benefit in the second inning. Starlin Castro led off the second inning with a double off the high center field wall. With one out, Chase Headley hit a fly ball off The Monster in left for a run-scoring double.

In the third inning, Brett Gardner got on with a double and came around to score on a two-out single by Brian McCann to put the Yankees ahead by two.

Luis Severino returned to the rotation for the first time since May 13 and looked good in the first two innings but struggled to hold the two-run lead in the third inning. With one out, Andrew Benintendi got on base with a single and Mookie Betts followed with a double. They both came around to score on a gritty nine-pitch at-bat by Dustin Pedroia that resulted in a two-run double into right field that tied the game.

In the fifth inning, the Red Sox struck against Severino and the Yankees bullpen. Sandy Leon led off the inning with a sharp line drive to the right field corner. On the play, Aaron Hicks could not track it down so the Red Sox catcher reached third with a triple. Benintendi came up with an initially called two-run home run but it was reverted to a run-scoring double as the fly ball hit the yellow line in center field. He came around to score on another double by Pedroia that knocked Severino out of the game. Recently acquired Tommy Layne came on to face his former team and was greeted by a run-scoring single by David Ortiz to put the Red Sox ahead by three.

In just 4 1/3 innings, Luis Severino allowed five runs on seven hits with no walks and three strikeouts.

Anthony Swarzak and Chasen Shreve put together 2 1/3 scoreless innings to keep the Yankees within range to rally back.

In the seventh inning, Chase Headley led off with a double off the wall and when he tried stretching it out to a triple, Jackie Bradley threw him out at third. At the conclusion of the play, Porcello and Headley were confrontational and benches were cleared but it did not amount to anything.

This baserunning mistake loomed over the inning when Aaron Hicks reached base on a two-out error. Brett Gardner hit a double off the wall but Aaron Hicks was unable to score on the hit and a fly out by Jacoby Ellsbury ended the inning with two runners left in scoring position.

In the ninth inning, the Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel was wild. After a strikeout of Didi Gregorius, Chase Headley was walked. Gary Sanchez flew out to left field but Kimbrel walked Aaron Hicks and Brett Gardner to load the bases. Jacoby Ellsbury walked in a run and Kimbrel knocked himself out of his save opportunity with his 37-pitch appearance.

Matt Barnes finished off tonight's game with Mark Teixeira striking out looking.

Win – Rick Porcello (15-3)

Loss – Luis Severino (1-7)

Save – Matt Barnes (1)

Notables

Yankees

*Brett Gardner – 3 for 4, R, BB, 2 2B

*Chase Headley – 2 for 3, R, BB, 2 2B, RBI (38)

Red Sox

*Andrew Benintendi – 3 for 3, 2 R, 2B, RBI (3)

*Dustin Pedroia – 2 for 4, R, 2 2B, 3 RBI (49)

Current Yankees Record: 56-56