Without Aaron Judge and playing in a slightly smoky atmosphere from the Canadian wildfires, the Yankees ran out of gas.
Luis Severino’s velocity dipped again, and the Yankees came back from two deficits but not a third in a 6-5 loss to the White Sox on Thursday afternoon in front of a sparse crowd, undoubtedly affected by the poor air conditions and the early start in Game 1 of a doubleheader.
A potential rally in the ninth inning fell short. The Yankees put two on without an out against Kendall Graveman, but Gleyber Torres fouled out before Anthony Rizzo grounded into a double play.
The Yankees unsuccessfully challenged the call, hoping shortstop Tim Anderson came off second base before taking the throw, a disappointing end to a game with a surprising losing pitcher.
Michael King, probably the Yankees’ best bullpen weapon, allowed the go-ahead home run as the Yankees (36-27) dropped a series against the subpar White Sox (28-35) and hoped to avoid the sweep in the nightcap.
“Usually we’re going to make five runs stand up,” manager Aaron Boone said after the Yankees lost for just a sixth time when scoring at least five runs.
The Yankees have returned from a strong road trip without a healthy Judge, who still lacks a timetable for his return, and with a series defeat.
The offense was not a glaring problem in the matinee, knocking out Chicago starter Lance Lynn after five innings and climbing back from deficits of 2-0 and 4-2.
But King entered with a one-run lead in the seventh and quickly flushed it.
King, who had been unscored upon in 11 ¹/₃ innings and nearly a month, gave up a second-pitch double to Luis Robert Jr. and a third-pitch home run to Eloy Jimenez.
“Really quick,” Boone said about King’s seventh inning. “Jimenez and his power got him. Just looked like up and out over the plate.”
The homer was just the second King had given up this season.
The righty settled down, but the Yankees’ offense could not respond for a third time.
In their first game since Judge was officially moved to the 10-day injured list with a ligament sprain in his big toe, the Yankees managed nine hits and battled, but did not score after the fifth inning.
The Yankees were down 2-0, when they pieced together three two-out hits to tie the game in the second inning.
Billy McKinney, playing in his first major league game of the season and first as a Yankee since March 31, 2018, tripled in his first at-bat. Kyle Higashioka followed with an RBI double, and Willie Calhoun’s bouncer through the left side gave the Yankees a second run.
After Severino put them in another two-run hole in the third, the Yankees tied it again in the fourth.
Out of the lineup stepped the 6-foot-7 Judge, and in stepped the 5-8 Calhoun, who drove in three of the club’s five runs.
Calhoun blasted his fourth home run of the season, a two-run shot, to claw the Yankees back.
“Up and down today, pretty good at-bats and good two-out at-bats,” Boone said of his offense, which was engineered to hit Lynn.
The former Yankee has been ineffective against lefties this season, and lefty Yankees batters went 6-for-15 with a homer, triple and two doubles against him. But once he was pulled, the Yankees could do little against the Chicago bullpen.
Still, the Yankees’ offense was less a concern than their starting pitcher.
Severino, who was crushed by the Dodgers for seven runs in four innings last week, allowed four runs — on three home runs — in five innings Thursday.
The righty’s four-seam fastball was a full digit slower than it had been this season, and the White Sox pounced.
Of the six hits Severino surrendered — including home runs to Jake Burger, Robert and Yoan Moncada — five came off his four-seamer. Boone believed Severino lacked his usual “crispness,” and the righty agreed.
“I’m not 100 percent sure what’s going on,” Severino said, “but the bottom line is I gotta fix it.”
Without his best fastball, he relied more on his off-speed stuff, particularly his changeup and slider, and managed to escape the fifth inning with the Yankees ahead.
But the Yankees fell behind again with the ball in King’s hand.
