BOSTON — Luis Severino delivered a message with his first pitch on Friday night — a fastball under Mookie Betts’s chin, which sent Betts sprawling into the dirt, the Fenway Park crowd into a frenzy and Red Sox Manager Alex Cora into a tizzy.
What Severino could not deliver was the type of stop-the-bleeding performance that the Yankees so desperately needed from their ace, as they lost again to the Boston Red Sox, 4-1.
One night after the Yankees’ pitchers were pummeled, their bats were muzzled by the right-hander Rick Porcello, who continued his dominance at Fenway Park by pitching a complete-game one-hitter.