Luis Severino, Yankees prove Rays right: Bombers are ‘very beatable’

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Yankees were beatable, after all. The Rays rallied again on Sunday to hand the Bombers their second straight loss behind a home run and tough defense from Taylor Walls, who predicted the outcome on Thursday.

Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres each homered for the Yankees only offense in the 4-2 loss at Tropicana Field.

The Yankees (33-15) lost their second straight game and the Rays (28-19) rallied after losing the first two games of the series to split the four-game set.

The Rays got only two hits off Luis Severino and the Yankees bullpen. It was all they needed, both hits were home runs.

Ji-Man Choi homered off Severino in the second inning. Walls, who reacted to Thursday night’s loss to the Yankees by saying they are “very beatable,” homered to give the Rays the lead in the fifth.

It was the first time this season Severino has allowed more than one homer in a game.

Severino, however, walked Wander Franco and Choi to lead off the seventh inning and was charged with those runs when Ron Marinaccio walked pinch-hitter Harold Ramirez and then hit Mike Zunino with the bases loaded.

Severino allowed a season-high tying four earned runs, but allowed just two hits. He walked two and struck out eight. The right-hander threw a season-high 103 pitches.

The Yankees went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position Sunday.

Aaron Hicks twice had opportunities with runners in scoring position Sunday and was robbed both times. In the sixth, he hit a hard liner that was snared by third baseman Yandy Diaz. In the eighth, with Torres on third base, Hicks hit a hard ground ball up the middle and Walls made a tremendous play to stop and throw to make the third out.

Torres hit his ninth homer of the season and his second of the series in the second inning Sunday. That matches his total in 516 plate appearances in 2021. Torres, who reworked his swing and seems so much more comfortable playing second base than shortstop, had reached the nine-homer mark in just 161 plate appearances this season.

Judge hit his major league-leading 18th homer of the season in the eighth.

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