Lucas Giolito made it through the first inning with his customary walk, but no other damage. The lack of runs usually foreshadows a decent outing.
But not tonight. Giolito walked Gleyber Torres on four pitches to start the second. He struck out Miguel Andujar, but then three straight singles tied the game at 2.
Giolito had a chance to right himself when he got ahead of Brett Gardner 1-2, but his curveball drilled Gardner in the foot and brought Giancarlo Stanton to the plate. Falling 3-0 was a bad idea, and throwing a middle-middle fastball on 3-2 was a worse one. Stanton hit it high to the opposite field. On some nights, it would've been a warning-track flyout. Tonight, it cleared the wall just on the inside of the foul pole for a game-breaking grand slam.
Giolito rebounded to at least get through five -- not a guarantee since he exceeded 70 pitches through three -- while allowing just a solo shot to Aaron Hicks. His ERA spiked back up above 6.00, though (6.23).
Coming back from four runs down was too tall a task when Luis Severino started for New York. Severino struggled coming into this evening, and the Sox made him look mortal early, but they couldn't find the multiple additional runs to make it a ballgame.
Jose Abreu greeted him with an RBI double, scoring Yolmer Sanchez all the way from first. Daniel Palka then muscled a single into shallow center to score Abreu, making it 2-0 Sox after one.
But after the Yankees seized the lead, Tim Anderson's opposite-field answer to Hicks' homer in the fifth inning was the only other time the Sox could ding Severino. He ended up striking out eight over seven innings, allowing seven hits and walking nobody.
The Sox had a brief opening in the eighth, as Abreu walked and Palka singled him to third with two outs off Chad Green. Avisail Garcia couldn't keep the rally alive, watching strike three on a fastball that looked just off the plate.
Bullet points:
*Yoan Moncada struck out two more times to give him 18 over his last 32 plate appearances, but he flipped an opposite-field single to make it merely a 2-for-29 slump.
*Anderson committed his 15th error of the single rushing a charging play, but it didn't do any damage.
*Jeanmar Gomez and Hector Santiago were the only relievers needed, and an off day tomorrow will allow the bullpen to fully reset.
*The Yankees swiped two bases off Kevan Smith, who is now 0-for-29 against baserunners this season.
*Bruce Dreckman had to leave his post at second base in the ninth inning after a moth flew in his ear. He returned to the field a batter later.
Record: 41-73 | Box score
