The New York Yankees returned home after a 6-1 road trip, completing a three-game sweep with a 4-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds following a contentious series in Toronto.
“I think we learned a lot about ourselves on this road trip,” Harrison Bader said after his go-ahead, two-run homer sparked a comeback in the final game of Sunday’s series against the Reds. “If we didn’t already know before things went a little awry, having a lot of energy that was a little bit removed from the game of baseball, we learned that now.”
Gleyber Torres also homered as the Yankees extended a winning streak to four for the first time this season. The series against the Reds was relatively quiet after a trip to Toronto that included accusations of sign stealing, the ejection of Domingo Germán for goo and testy exchanges.
Luis Severino returned from a hamstring strain that had sidelined him since spring training and allowed one run on four hits in 4 2/3 innings with five strikeouts and one walk. He threw 54 of 75 pitches for strikes and averaged 96.7 mph with 44 fastballs.
“I was finding the area. The change was really good,” Severino said. “I have some hits on the breaking ball.”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone was ejected in the first inning and Reds manager David Bell in the eighth.
New York (29-20), which gave slugger Aaron Judge the day off, has won six of seven and 14 of 19, improving to a season-high nine games over .500.
Cincinnati has lost six of seven, falling to last place in the NL Central.
In a game that began at 11:37 a.m., Severino led off with a four-pitch walk to Jonathan India and Spencer Speer hit a two-out fly ball down the right-field line that Jake Bauers nearly caught but allowed to bounce off the ball. his glove.
The ball was ruled a foul by first base umpire Néstor Ceja, but the call was overturned on video review and India was allowed to score. Boone, angry that India slowed down between third and home plate, came out to argue and was thrown out by plate umpire Emil Jimenez. Boone was ejected for the third time this season and the 29th time in his coaching career.
“At first I was just trying to get an explanation as to why and they just say you can’t argue with that,” Boone said. “He shouldn’t have been sent off because, in the end, I think it was probably right. stuff.”
Bell was ejected by Jimenez in the eighth for arguing that the umpire had not called a fast pitch on Wandy Peralta to Luke Maile. Bell’s ejection was the second of the series, the third this season and the 23rd of his career.
“I couldn’t get an explanation,” Bell said.
Albert Abreu (2-1) followed Severino and got four straight outs. Jimmy Cordero pitched a perfect seventh and Peralta a 1-2-3 eighth.
Cincinnati loaded the bases in the ninth against Clay Holmes with two hits and a walk before Will Benson hit a game-ending comeback. Holmes earned his fifth save in seven chances, his first save since April 12.
The New York relievers pitched 14 2/3 shutout innings in the series and lead the major leagues with a 2.87 bullpen ERA.
“We’ve got some guys back, but we’ve been beaten,” Boone said after the Yankees completed a 33-game skid in 34 days.
Hunter Greene (0-4) remained winless in 10 starts this season and has allowed eight home runs. He allowed four runs, four hits and three walks in a season-high seven innings and matched his season-high with 10 strikeouts.
Bader put the Yankees ahead with a two-run homer in the fifth with a drive over the left-field wall for his fourth home run, Torres added an opposite-field homer to right on a fastball in the sixth. Anthony Volpe added an RBI single in the seventh.
“Bader made a change. Everyone knows I’m working on it, but I was still very successful in many situations.” Greene said.
