Yankees 1, Red Sox 5: Ban knuckleballers

The Yankees had a chance to sweep this series. Well, they had a chance before the game started. The Yankees fell behind 2-0 after Dustin Pedroia hit a Yankee Stadium special over the right field wall, and the Yankees didn't come close after that.

Honestly, I thought Luis Severino had a good night. Fans and beat writers have been clamoring for Severino to be sent down to Triple-A Scranton for the past couple of weeks, but we all know that isn't happening, especially with CC Sabathia's injury. He had a nice start against the Orioles, and I think this was another step forward.

He struck out nine batters over six and two-thirds innings, allowing four runs on five hits and one walk. That one walk was the first batter of the game, Mookie Betts, and the other two runs beside the Pedroia home run were off the bat of David Ortiz. Ortiz hit two absolute moonshots in the fourth and seventh innings, and if we're being honest, those were the only two mistakes for Severino. According to ESPN Stats & Info, that Pedroia home run would not have been a home run in any other ballpark. Severino had command, his stuff was filthy, and he got the swings and misses that he has sorely missed in previous starts. He can stay.

Chasen Shreve relieved Severino, and he allowed a run (a Xander Bogaerts solo home run) on two hits and picked up one strikeout. Johnny Barbato finished the game in the ninth, and he nearly allowed another insurance run: after hitting Hanley Ramirez, Ramirez stole second, advanced to third, but got thrown out at home on a fly ball to left. Thanks for actually throwing someone out, Brett Gardner.

On offense, the Yankees just stunk. Steven Wright tossed a complete game, allowing just three hits, one earned run, and one walk.There isn't much more to report other than the Yankees nearly got something cooking in the seventh after Starlin Castro led off the inning with a double, but he ended up getting picked off third. Castro has been a consistent hitter and I love him on defense, but boy-oh-boy is he bad on the base paths. They either need to straighten that out or tell him to cut down on his leads. When the team is struggling to score runs, you can't be getting picked off. Wright made one actual mistake, and it was a solo home run to Brett Gardner with two outs in the ninth.

Let's look at the bright side. The Yankees won this series. They won a close game on Friday and they beat up on David Price on Saturday, so I walk away from that pretty satisfied. The Red Sox are a good club, and there are plenty more opportunities to beat them again.

The Yankees will remain at home and take on the Kansas City Royals for a four-game set. The Royals have been struggling themselves--they have an 87 OPS+ and 109 ERA+ so far this year. It's time to keep the momentum going. The probable starters for tomorrow at 7:05 PM EST are Chris Young and Ivan Nova, and you can catch the game on YES or MLB.tv.

Box Score | Game Graph

Update:

Starlin Castro felt something in his ribcage on the dive back to third. Girardi said he's hopeful he can play tomorrow.

— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) May 9, 2016

Hopefully this is nothing, but we'll keep you updated. Please get better, Castro, and please stop acting like a dope while on base. Thanks.