NEW YORK — A move to the bullpen proved to be no relief for the Yankees’ Luis Severino.
The right-hander struggled through yet another rough outing in Wednesday night’s 9-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox, surrendering four runs on five hits over two-plus innings.
The Yankees opened the road game with reliever Ian Hamilton, hoping that using Severino out of the bullpen would take some pressure off the 29-year-old after back-to-back brutal starts.
But Severino ran into immediate trouble when he entered in a scoreless game to begin the second inning. He allowed three runs in that frame — including two on a 430-foot home run by Oscar Colas — before serving up an RBI double to Yoan Moncada in the third inning.
Severino issued a leadoff walk in the fourth inning and was removed from the game. The two-time All-Star fell to 2-7, while his ERA inflated to 8.06.
Wednesday marked the third consecutive outing in which an opponent jumped on Severino during his first inning of work. He allowed seven runs in the first inning of his July 30 start against the Baltimore Orioles, then gave up three runs in the opening frame against the Houston Astros last Friday.
“I’m not going to lie, every time I give up a homer or a run in the first inning, it’s like, ‘Jesus Christ, what am I doing?’ And I start looking for different stuff,” Severino said following Friday’s loss to Houston. “Is this mechanics? Is this tipping [pitches]?”
Before Wednesday’s game, manager Aaron Boone expressed hope using Severino in relief would help him return to form.
“We got to get him on track … and hopefully this is something that can be the start of that,” Boone said. “I think just taking a little pressure off that first [inning], the top of the order, that first go-round, hopefully get him in there at a better spot where he can take off.”
Giancarlo Stanton delivered the Yankees’ only offense against Chicago starter Mike Clevinger with an RBI groundout. Stanton also homered off of reliever Jimmy Lambert in the seventh inning, cutting the deficit to three, but the Yankees failed to score again after loading the bases with nobody out.
The White Sox scored a run against reliever Keynan Middleton, whom they sent to the Yankees before last week’s trade deadline. Middleton ripped Chicago’s “no rules” culture after arriving in the Bronx. Chicago tacked on four runs in an eighth inning highlighted by Elvis Andrus’ three-run double against reliever Nick Ramirez.
The Yankees (59-56) dropped two of three to the lowly White Sox (47-69) and again fell to 5.5 games out of the final AL Wild Card spot. They resume their nine-game road trip Friday night in Miami.
