Yankees' Luis Severino offers laughable excuse for almost hitting Red Sox's Mookie Betts

by Felix Pantaleón

Here’s how Yankees ace Luis Severino explained why he almost hit Red Sox star Mookie Betts in the head with a fastball in a 4-1 loss at Fenway Park on Friday.

BOSTON — Luis Severino had to say he wasn’t trying to hit Mookie Betts.

If the Yankees’ ace just simply said, Duh, I aimed a 95-mph fastball right at Betts’ mouth, he’d face discipline from the league.

Still, his explanation after a 4-1 loss to the Red Sox at Fenway Park was pretty laughable.

“If I’m going to hit somebody,” Severino said, “I’m not going to miss.”

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Severino threw a heater near the head of Boston leadoff man Betts, maybe the best player in the league, with hist first pitch of the night.

It came after Red Sox starting pitcher Rick Porcello hit Yankees leadoff man Brett Gardner in the elbow with an 0-2 pitch.

Severino added that he wouldn’t have tried to hit Betts in the head.

“Mookie is a great guy,” he said. “And if I’m going to hit somebody, I’m not going to go to the head. That’s not right.”

Yankees manager Aaron Boone backed up Severino.

“I think watching the replay of it, (catcher Austin Romine) is setting up in,” Boone said. “If you’re going to go in to Mookie Betts, you don’t want to miss in there. So I think it just ran up and in on him.”

Immediately, umpires issued warnings to both teams, designed to end the carnage before it started.

The combination of the warnings and Severino’s pitch drove Red Sox manager Alex Cora into a cursing frenzy. Cora, a rookie manager, was ejected for the first time in his career as skipper.

Severino dropped an F bomb when referencing the early warnings.

“First pitch of the game, I get a f****** warning,” Severino said. “I mean, it’s going to be surprising of course. I wasn’t trying to hit nobody.”

Cora wasn’t buying it after the game.

“Well,” he said, “the first pitch of the game went right at the head of the best player in baseball. There’s intent. It is what it is. We won the game and we’ll move on.”

Brendan Kuty may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.