TALE OF 2 ROOKS
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BENINTENDI AB H BB R HR RBI SO
It was only one game, but it felt like a summation of the state of the AL East race the Red Sox have grabbed by the throat over the last two weeks, to the point where suddenly it looks as if they might run away with the division title. So much for that Friday night miracle win reviving the Yankees’ offense and launching a run to first place.
Or to put it another way: man, the vibe sure changed fast.
With their ace on the mound less than 24 hours after that feel-good comeback victory, the Yankees had to be thinking this weekend could prove to be a turning point in catching the Red Sox.
Instead Luis Severino took a rare pounding at the Stadium on Saturday as the Sox flexed the long-ball muscles they’ve re-discovered lately, with Andrew Benintendi hitting a pair of three-run home runs. The result was an ugly 10-5 loss that left the home team facing the daunting prospect of needing to beat Chris Sale on Sunday night to win the series. Yes, it really does feel as if the Yankees are in big trouble, at least as far as catching the Sox. They are 4½ games out of first place, but more to the point, the Sox are flying, with nine wins in their last 10 games, while glaring issues continue to mount for the team in pinstripes. Most significantly, on Saturday Masahiro Tanaka joined CC Sabathia on the 10day disabled list with arm soreness that the Yankees labeled as shoulder inflammation. And while both he and the team said it should be a short-term absence, the injury makes it that much harder to believe the Japanese star will find his ace-form with any consistency this season. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Jordan Montgomery was hit in the head by a fly ball while signing autographs before Saturday’s game, leaving him with a cut on his right ear and some question about whether he’ll be ok to pitch Sunday night. The Yankees put him through concussion protocol and said he should be fine to make his start — as did Montgomery after the game. But even if he is ok, the starting rotation is hurting. It seemed to be in great shape after the recent trades for Sonny Gray and Jaime Garcia, but at the very least the Yankees will need Luis Cessa, Bryan Mitchell, or Caleb Smith to make an emergency start against the Mets on Monday night. Which prompted Joe Girardi to say: “It’s a darn good thing we made the additions we did, or we’d be really short.” With all of that as a backdrop, Severino’s first clunker since July 2 obviously came at a bad time, and it’s fair to wonder if he’ll hit a wall down the stretch, since he’s never thrown more than 114 innings in a season, and he’s now at 143 and counting after Saturday. At the same time, he had been brilliant of late, prompting Girardi to say he sees no signs of concern. “If he has three or four bad Red Sox rookie sensation Andrew Benintendi has gotten better of Yankee superstar Aaron Judge in first two games of pivotal series at Yankee Stadium.