Luis Severino pitched six effective innings and the New York Yankees beat the visiting Texas Rangers 1-0 on Saturday afternoon.
Billy McKinney hit his fourth homer since being called up to replace Aaron Judge as the Yankees won for the third time in five games following a four-game losing streak. New York also improved to 7-10 since Judge injured his right big toe on June 3 at Dodger Stadium and got the win after the slugger said he has a torn ligament and is not ready for baseball activities.
Severino entered with a 9.16 ERA over his past four starts after posting a 1.59 mark in his first two outings following a two-month injured list stint with a strained lat but turned in his best outing so far.
He allowed five hits, struck out four and walked two in a 95-pitch outing.
Severino (1-2) was also aided by his defense at times, notably in the opening inning.
After Severino issued consecutive walks to Nathaniel Lowe and Adolis Garcia, Josh Jung singled. Lowe attempted to score, but right fielder Jake Bauers made a strong throw to the plate to easily cut down Lowe.
Tommy Kahnle worked a perfect seventh before the Yankees sweated out the eighth. Wandy Peralta opened the inning by allowing singles to Marcus Semien and Corey Seager before striking out Lowe.
Clay Holmes replaced Peralta and retired Garcia and threw a wild pitch before striking out Jung with runners at first and third. Ron Marinaccio stranded two in the ninth and got his second save when Semien popped out to second baseman Gleyber Torres.
After Anthony Rizzo struck out with the bases loaded to end the third, the Yankees went ahead in the fourth when McKinney lifted a full-count fastball about halfway up the right field bleachers.
McKinney homered for the third time in five games and has reached base safely in 15 games since joining the Yankees while getting a hit in 14 of those contests.
Jon Gray (6-3) allowed McKinney’s homer among three hits in five innings. He struck out four, walked two and was unable to match his win total from last season, his first in Texas.
The Rangers lost for just the second time in seven games.
–Field Level Media
