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The potential was there for this game to have a fun narrative. Luis Severino made his major league debut, and pitched pretty well when the Yankees needed him, in the face of the recent trade deadline. The problem was that the offense wasn't following the narrative. Boston starter Steven Wright held the Yankees down for eight innings as the Red Sox came away with a 2-1 win.
Severino got the first five outs without much trouble. Mike Napoli came up with two outs in the second and he grounded one to Chase Headley. Headley bounced the throw and Mark Teixeira couldn't scoop it, allowing Napoli to go to second on a Headley error. Alejandro De Aza followed that with a double, scoring Napoli to make it 1-0. Two innings later, the Red Sox added another run. David Ortiz took a Severino pitch deep over the right field wall to make it 2-0.
Other than those two blips, it was a pretty successful first start for Severino. He went five innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on two hits. He walked no one and struck out seven. His pitch count got a little high and forced him from the game a little early, but other than that he was pretty good.
The Yankees finally got on the board in the bottom of the seventh. Carlos Beltran led off the inning with a home run, cutting the Red Sox lead to one run.
Adam Warren threw three solid innings in relief of Severino before Chasen Shreve came in to pitch the ninth. Shreve got the first two outs before loading the bases. Blake Swihart worked the count full before Shreve struck him out on the eighth pitch of the at bat. The Yankees headed to the bottom of the ninth down just one run.
The Yankees got a rally going when Teixeira hit a one-out single. After Beltran flew out, Headley drew a walk. The Yankees then sent up Brian McCann as a pinch-hitter. McCann battled and eventually got good contact on a pitch. Unfortunately, it died in center field and was caught for the third out. The Yankees dropped the second game of the series as the Red Sox won 2-1.
The Yankees-Red Sox series in the Bronx wraps up tomorrow at 7:05 eastern. CC Sabathia will get the start for the Yankees, while Eduardo Rodriguez will pitch for Boston.