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NEW YORK (AP) — New York Yankees pitcher Luis Severino allowed three consecutive home runs to Cincinnati and left Wednesday’s start against the Reds because of right shoulder tightness.

Severino, whose velocity was down, was to undergo an MRI on Thursday. The 28-year-old right-hander allowed homers to Kyle Farmer, Mike Moustakas and Stuart Fairchild in a four-pitch span on the second.

After Yankees manager Aaron Boone and an athletic trainer came to the mound, Severino finished the inning, He went to the mound to start the third and threw a warmup pitch, then walked off and was replaced by rookie JP Sears.

Severino averaged 94.1 mph with 18 fastballs, down from his season average of 96.1 mph.

He won 19 games in 2018 and was selected for his second straight All-Star team. After signing a $40 million, four-year contract in February 2019. Severino strained his latissimus dorsi muscle and didn’t make his first start until Sept. 17. He made two more in the postseason, then had Tommy John surgery on Feb. 27, 2020.

Severino returned last Sept. 21 and made four relief appearances plus another in the AL wild card game.

He is 5-3 with a 3.45 ERA in 17 starts.

Farmer hit a 431-foot drive to left on Severino’s slider, Moustakas connected on a changeup and Fairchild on a 92 mph fastball. This was the third time Severino allowed three homers in a game, the first since Aug. 28, 2017 against Cleveland.

Gerrit Cole, Nestor Cortes, Jameson Taillon, Severino and Jordan Montgomery combined to make 84 of the Yankees first 88 starts. with Sears getting two and Clarke Schmidt and Luis Gil one each.

More AP MLB coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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