Joey Gallo leaves with neck tightness, but Aaron Boone doesn't seem worried

Joey Gallo, who finally has seemed to catch fire at the plate, was removed from Saturday’s game in the fourth inning because of "tightness" in his neck.

After the Yankees' 11-3 loss to Cleveland, Aaron Boone did not sound overly concerned about Gallo’s prospects going forward.

"Hopefully it's something they [trainers] can kind of work its way out of there [with treatment]," Boone said. "And be something that hopefully he's back in there tomorrow, but we'll see."

Boone said Gallo first started experiencing the tightness during Friday night’s 8-0 victory over Cleveland, a game in which the outfielder homered twice.

"Got some treatment on it last night and was trying to work through it all morning with different stretches and stuff," Boone said. "But I think after his first at-bat, it was just barking too much on him. He got some more treatment, obviously, during [Saturday’s] game. So, we'll see where we're at for tomorrow."

Gallo, who entered Saturday with seven hits in his last 15 at-bats, fouled out in his only plate appearance. He’s hitting .166 with 12 homers and a .754 OPS in 46 games since joining the Yankees at the trade deadline and is batting .204 with an .832 OPS and 37 homers overall.

Entering Saturday, Gallo had homered in four consecutive games in which he had an at-bat. In the last seven games in which he had an at-bat, he had gone 8-for-22 (.364) with six homers — and also came up just short of a grand slam Thursday.

Day off for Rizzo

Luke Voit got the start at first Saturday as Anthony Rizzo received a planned day off.

"Wanted to get Luke in there," said Boone, who also wanted to get Rizzo a day off in this stretch of 20 games in 20 days.

Rizzo, in a 3-for-22 skid, is hitting .242 with six homers and a .757 OPS in 36 games since the Yankees acquired him from the Cubs before the trade deadline.

Voit went 1-for-2 in Saturday’s loss, getting hit by a pitch in the first inning, drawing a walk in the sixth and hitting a two-run homer in the eighth to make it 11-3.

Voit has a .317/.411/.667 slash line, six homers and 19 RBIs in his last 18 starts.

Severino pumped

Boone described Luis Severino, who threw a two-inning simulated game Friday, as being in "an upbeat mood" when he arrived at the ballpark Saturday morning.

"So far so good," Boone said. "He’s excited about how he’s feeling and how he came out of yesterday,"

It is not yet clear what the next step will be for Severino, who twice has experienced last-moment setbacks in his recovery from Tommy John surgery in February 2020. Indications are he could become an option of some kind before the end of the regular season.

Return of Tito

Cleveland is planning for manager Terry Francona to be back for the 2022 season, president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti told the three beat reporters in town covering the club. Francona, 61, who has battled a variety of health issues in recent years, left the team July 29 to deal with some of those issues.

"He’s recovering really well," Antonetti said, according to Cleveland.com. "His mindset is in a much better place than it was a couple of months ago. So he’s excited. We’ve spent a lot of time talking about what’s happening with this year’s team and a lot about 2022 planning, too."