Anthony Rizzo hit by pitch . . . but not so fast!

Anthony Rizzo crowds the plate, makes  a point of keeping  his front shoulder closed and thus has been hit by pitches 195 times in his 12-year career. He appeared to make it 196 on Monday night when he was hit by a sweeping breaking ball from lefthander Ryan Yarbrough in the third inning — the pitch started off behind the lefthanded-hitting Rizzo and hit him in the right thigh —  but plate umpire D.J. Reyburn called him back, ruling that he had not tried to avoid getting hit by the pitch.

Rizzo and manager Aaron Boone argued the call, with both saying after the game that they still believed it was incorrect. After striking out on the next pitch, the usually mild-mannered Rizzo angrily slammed his equipment in the dugout.

 Afterward,  he emphasized the importance of not bailing out against a lefthander. ''I mean, Yarbrough throws a big sweeping slider,'' he said, "and If I bail out of the way of that and it comes back as a strike, I'm going to be pretty annoyed and I have to wait until the last second there and I don't wear any pads up there and I'm pretty good at bracing for balls and it was one of those things where I saw I was about to get hit and just braced for it, and . . . it is what it is.''

Rizzo had never had that called before. ''It shouldn't have been called tonight,'' he said, ''and I have been hit by a lot of pitches and it's never been called, so . . . like I said, it is what it is.''

He added, "Whenever you feel you got [hurt]  on a call at any time, it's annoying, because we're out here competing at the highest level and I'm up here talking to you guys and I feel like the umpires have zero accountability when they miss something like that, so . . . I know they're not trying to miss, but it's just frustrating. Doesn't matter when it happens.''

If Rizzo had been allowed to go to first, the Yankees would have had runners on first and second with one out in a scoreless game. After he struck out, Josh Donaldson struck out to end the inning. The Rays scored a run in the next half-inning and wound up with a 4-0 victory.

LeMahieu remains out with toe issue

DJ LeMahieu missed his second straight game Monday with inflammation in his right big toe.

“Right now we will kind of see how it goes day-by-day,”  Boone said.

Boone said LeMahieu reports pain especially when swinging, with the right foot being his back foot at the plate.

LeMahieu went 0-for-5 Saturday and is 1-for-18 in his last four games.

Boone didn’t rule out any possibilities about LeMahieu’s fate before Monday’s series opener against the Rays at the Stadium. He said the team doesn’t know if the injury will land him on the injured list or if he’ll return during the series.

Boone said it isn’t the type of injury in which rest will result in a recovery, so the Yankees will have to be patient and see how LeMahieu feels. He added the team will “kind of revisit that every single day” in regard to LeMahieu’s short-term fate.

“Hopefully it’s something that medicine, treatment and the orthotics will help correct and relieve some of the symptoms he’s been feeling,” Boone said.

Severino progressing

Luis Severino threw a 25-pitch bullpen session Monday and said it’s the best he has felt all season.

“It was a pretty normal bullpen,” he said. “I’ve been feeling great.”

Severino last pitched against the Reds on July 13, when he was pulled after two innings because of right shoulder tightness. He was diagnosed with a low-grade right lat strain and was transferred from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day injured list on Aug. 1, pushing his earliest return to mid-September.

Severino expects to be ready to pitch as soon as he is eligible to return.

He said he threw all of his pitches in the bullpen and that the ball felt good in his hand. He added that his arm felt loose and his breaking balls had good movement for the first time throwing off a mound in a month.

Boone watched the bullpen session and also had positive reviews. “He looked great,” he said. “I’m sure he’ll have a few more bullpens before he gets into a live situation, but I know he feels really good about how he’s feeling, and he certainly looked like that today.”

King optimistic

Michael King won’t throw another pitch for the Yankees this season, but he said he was happy to hear his MRIs revealed no ligament damage and that he should avoid Tommy John surgery.

King, 27, suffered a season-ending fracture in his right elbow on July 22. He currently has plates and screws in his elbow to repair the fracture.

King said he felt some discomfort while pitching during the season but that wasn’t new to him. But he heard a pop July 22 and knew this was different.

“All pitchers go through some stuff and try to fight through some things, and I knew my bullpen needed some help,” he said. “And I also felt like I was pitching well so I wanted to throw through what I was feeling.”

King went 6-3 with a 2.29 ERA in 34 appearances out of the bullpen. He held hitters to a .192 batting average.

He said he’ll have another MRI in three to six weeks, and if all goes well, he hopes to begin a throwing program around the start of November in preparation for next season.