Bullpen again comes up big as Yankees beat Red Sox

Longtime Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has a go-to phrase when it comes to a team’s relief corps.

“Bullpens are volatile,” he says, meaning the fluctuation a group can have from one season to the next or from one week or month to the next.

But mostly terrific bullpens — or at least fairly decent ones in down seasons — have been a hallmark of Yankees teams the last decade-plus, and this season is shaping up as no exception.

A day after seven relievers allowed one earned run in seven innings in the Yankees’ season-opening 11-inning win over the Red Sox on Friday, six relievers threw six scoreless innings in a 4-2 win Saturday at the Stadium.

“It’s really fun to watch and good to be behind them and not in the box against them, to be honest,” said Giancarlo Stanton, whose two-run homer — his second homer in as many days, this one traveling an estimated 437 feet — in the sixth inning snapped a 2-2 tie. “They’re nasty and they’re going to be tough for guys all year.”

On Friday, it was Chad Green, Clay Holmes, Miguel Castro, Jonathan Loaisiga, Wandy Peralta, Aroldis Chapman and Michael King leading the way.

On Saturday, after Luis Severino allowed two runs and five hits in three innings-plus, the phalanx of Ron Marinaccio — a native of Toms River who had about 100 friends and family in attendance for his big-league debut — Castro, Lucas Luetge, Green, Holmes and Chapman again did the job.

“We have guys in there that at some point were starters and now they’re in the bullpen and they’re executing quality pitches,” Chapman said through his interpreter. “And you put that together with a group of us that have been doing this for a little bit, the experience and quality of work meshes together really well.”

After the blast by Stanton, who became the first player in history to homer in six straight games against Boston (including the postseason), Green and Holmes got the ball to Chapman, who overcame a two-base throwing error by Isiah Kiner-Falefa with one out in the ninth.

The bullpen has allowed two runs (one earned), five hits and six walks in 13 innings, striking out 15.

“Just the quality arms that are down there,” Green said. “It’s just guys running out throwing 98, 99, just one after the other.”

Severino, who because of various injuries had made only seven appearances (three starts) since 2019, showed flashes of his pre-injury self. His first pitch was a 96-mph fastball and his fourth came in at 98. Severino, who struck out five and did not walk a batter and whose one mistake was a 98-mph fastball in the second that Alex Verdugo drove into the rightfield stands for a two-run homer, topped out at 100 mph.

After Verdugo led off the fourth against Severino with a single, Marinaccio walked Trevor Story on four pitches. After ball one to Bobby Dalbec, Anthony Rizzo came over for a brief pep talk. “Definitely needed it,” Marinaccio said. “After ball five, Rizzo came out there and said, ‘Just give me a deep breath.’ That’s exactly what I needed at that point.”

Marinaccio struck out Bobby Dalbec, and when Jackie Bradley Jr. sent a sharp grounder up the middle, a diving Gleyber Torres made a sliding backhand stop and glove flip to second to get a forceout. Marinaccio struck out Christian Vazquez looking at a slider to end the threat.

“A lot of good, quality stuff coming out,” Rizzo said of the bullpen. “We have a lot of backend guys . . . We have, what [10 relievers]? And eight, 10 of them are all back-end guys.”

Josh Donaldson led off the bottom of the fourth with a single and centerfielder Kike Hernandez robbed Aaron Judge of an extra-base hit with a catch against the wall. But Rizzo, who hit a key homer in the first inning Friday to turn a 3-0 deficit into a 3-2 hole, hammered a 1-and-1 fastball to right for his second two-run homer in as many days, tying it at 2-2.

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.