NEW YORK -- Luis Severino, meet David Ortiz.
Mr. Ortiz is here to show you what happens when you miss your location on a fastball behind in the count.
Severino, making his major league debut Wednesday night, learned his lesson the hard way. Trailing 1-0 in the top of the fourth inning, Severino tried to sneak a heater past Ortiz, who turned on it and crushed it some 430 feet, far back into the right field bleachers.
"Severino's got electric-type stuff,'' said John Farrell, "and (Ortiz) gets a 2-0 fastball that David's probably sitting on with the way he squared it up. Typically, we don't leave New York without David going deep (at least) one time and he put a beautiful swing on a pitch.''
"That young kid, he's got good stuff, man,'' said Ortiz of Severino. "I think he's going to be pretty good. He's got a good fastball, he's got the cutter, the changeup. I think early in the game, he was kind of missing location a little bit, but other than that, his stuff is very explosive.''
The homer proved the difference for the Red Sox, who snapped an eight- game losing streak on the road and held off the Yankees, 2-1.
For Ortiz, it was the 21st homer of the season and his fifth in the last 13 games. He has six homers and 17 RBI in the 18 games since the All-Star break.
Boston Red Sox
"It was a good swing,'' said Ortiz.
As Farrell alluded, Ortiz often enjoys hitting at Yankee Stadium.
"It's a good field to hit in,'' said Ortiz. "Of course, if you've got power, you definitely can (hit some) homers.''
The homer gave Ortiz 487 for his career, giving him an outside chance to reach 500 before the end of the season. Ortiz would need to hit 34 this season to get to that milestone, and Wednesday night represented exactly the two-thirds mark of the season, with Ortiz on pace to hit just over 32 this year.