What Yankees’ Tyler Austin was thinking facing Red Sox’s Joe Kelly first time since brawl

Yankees first baseman Tyler Austin and Red Sox reliever Joe Kelly brawled back on April 11, 2018 (4/11/18) at Fenway Park in Boston, Mass. Things were much calmer on Thursday, May 10, 2018 (5/10/18), when the Red Sox beat the Yankees, 5-4, to avoid a three-game sweep.

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NEW YORK — A not-so-long awaited second confrontation between Yankees first baseman Tyler Austin and Red Sox reliever Joe Kelly went down Thursday night at Yankee Stadium.

Sole possession of first place was on the line this time when the two main culprits from last month’s bench-clearing brawl at Fenway Park went to battle.

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“I thought I’d be a little more anxious,” Austin said. “I was actually really calm.”

It was almost eventful again, as there was a brief rush for Jennifer Lopez, Alex Rodriguez and the rest of the crowd of 46,899 that didn’t leave during a 55-minute rain delay in the fifth inning.

With the Red Sox up a run in the eighth, Austin came close to hitting a two-run homer on a flyball to deep left field facing Kelly.

A few minutes later, the Yankees’ eight-game winning streak and their historic 17-1 run ended with a 5-4 loss that left the rivals dead even for the top spot in the AL East.

“I just missed it,” Austin said.

Austin insisted his mind didn’t think back to April 11 before or during his at-bat against Kelly.

“Not even a little bit,” he said. “I was just trying to square a ball up.”

A day shy of a month earlier, Austin charged the mound after being hit by Kelly, who was sending a message for a hard slide into second base earlier in the game.

Both threw punches during a brawl that soon included many others, and it led to punishment from Major League Baseball, a four-game suspension for Austin and six-game suspension for Kelly.

This week’s series was the first for the Yankees and Red Sox since April, and before it ended, Austin and Kelly would meet again.

Kelly entered in the seventh while the Yankees were scoring four times to make it a 4-4 game, and it was his wild pitch that brought in Brett Gardner from third with the tying run.

The next inning, J.D. Martinez homered off Dellin Betances to put the Red Sox back on top, then Kelly went back out to pitch the bottom of the eighth.

Austin came up after Kelly walked leadoff hitter Gary Sanchez to face his new rival for the second time as a big leaguer … and, to the best of his recollection, for the second time ever.

“I think so,” Austin said. “Maybe in the minor leagues, but I don’t recall.”

Kelly’s first pitch was a 98-mph fastball to Austin, who went for it and hit a flyball to deep left that ignited a brief roar from the crowd.

Off the bat, Austin’s hopes weren’t up.

“I hit it off the (bat) label a little bit,” he said. “It was a good pitch. I was jammed. I immediately knew that I just missed it.”

Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.