Birthday boy LeMahieu scores in 10th, Yanks beat Reds 7-6

NEW YORK -- — DJ LeMahieu capped his 34th birthday by sliding across the plate on Alexis Díaz’s second straight wild pitch in the 10th inning, and the New York Yankees rallied from a four-run deficit to beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-6 Wednesday night and stop a three-game losing streak.

Luis Severino allowed three consecutive homers in a span of five pitches in the second inning as Cincinnati built a 4-0 lead, then left with right shoulder tightness.

“Today I woke up feeling not that great,” Severino said. “I felt a little tight shoulder going to warm up and do all my stuff in the bullpen. It stayed the same in the game.”

Cincinnati allowed five unearned runs, four after second baseman Jonathan India’s error on Anthony Rizzo’s potential inning-ending double-play grounder in the third. The Reds fell behind 5-4 and went ahead 6-5 before Giancarlo Stanton homered to the short porch in right field off Ian Gibaut in the eighth.

LeMahieu started the 10th inning on second base. Aaron Judge struck out against Díaz (2-1), Anthony Rizzo was intentionally walked and Stanton fell behind 0-2 in the count.

Díaz threw a slider that went off the mitt of catcher Tyler Stephenson. Díaz paused to grab the rosin bag, then threw a slider that bounced off Stephenson toward the first base dugout as LeMahieu scampered home ahead of the catcher’s throw to Díaz covering the plate.

“It’s a good birthday, but to play in the big leagues on my birthday, that’s good enough,” LeMahieu said. “But a walk-off like this is pretty fun.”

New York got its big league-high 11th walk-off win and 27th come-from-behind victory, avoiding what would have been its first four-game losing streak this year.

Michael King (6-1), the seventh Yankees pitcher, escaped first-and-third, no-outs trouble in the 10th when Matt Reynolds struck out and Kyle Farmer grounded into a 5-4-3 double play.

“Not perfect,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “This season’s not going to be that way. So, just glad we were able to kind of continue to grind and grind.”

Farmer hit a 431-foot drive to left on Severino’s slider, Mike Moustakas connected on a changeup and Stuart Fairchild on a 92 mph fastball.

After Boone and an athletic trainer came to the mound, Severino finished the inning. He went to the mound to start the third and threw a warmup pitch, then walked off and was replaced by rookie JP Sears.

Severino averaged 94.1 mph with 18 fastballs, down from his season average of 96.1 mph.

“I talked to him after the first inning, he was just a little leery of letting it go, but he kept saying, `I feel really good,'” Boone said. “Something was telling him to hold back a little bit. That was the biggest thing.”

This was the third time Severino allowed three homers in a game, the first since Aug. 28, 2017, against Cleveland.

Cincinnati hit three straight homers for the first time since May 5, 2019, against San Francisco’s Jeff Samardzija when Eugenio Suárez, Jesse Winker and Derek Dietrich went deep.

“That was a great way to get off to a good start,” Reds manager David Bell said.

New York allowed three straight homers for the second time this year. Gerrit Cole did it June 9 in Minnesota when Luis Arraez, Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa took him deep.

Joey Votto drove in two runs and Stephenson hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth off Sears as the Reds saw their season-high five-game winning streak snapped.

Gleyber Torres hit an RBI single after India’s error, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa capped a five-run third with a three-run double.

Cincinnati starter Mike Minor allowed five runs — one earned — in four innings.

BIRD RELEASED

The Yankees released 1B Greg Bird from his minor league contract after he hit .218 with six homers and 22 RBI in 59 games at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Reds: CF Nick Senzel was a late scratch with back tightness and was caught stealing as a pinch runner in the eighth.

Yankees: OF Aaron Hicks said he was feeling better after bruising his right shin when he fouled a pitch off his leg in the third inning Tuesday. Hicks underwent an MRI and CT scan that were both negative and hopes to return by this weekend’s series with Boston. … RHP Domingo Germán (right shoulder impingement, injured list since spring training) threw a bullpen and is tentatively scheduled to make another rehab start for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, though that could change depending on New York’s pitching needs by Friday. … Sears was optioned to Triple-A after the game.

UP NEXT

All-Star RHP Luis Castillo (3-4, 2.92 ERA) makes his second career start at Yankee Stadium for Cincinnati. In the second inning of his previous one, Castillo got Todd Frazier to hit into a triple play on July 25, 2017. All-Star LHP Nestor Cortes (7-3, 2.74) starts for the Yankees.

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