Plate ump no help, but Yankees’ J.A. Happ off again in 11-7 Game 1 loss to Phillies | Rapid reaction

Yankees pitcher J.A. Happ can gripe if he wants about often-criticized plate umpire Angel Hernandez squeezing him Wednesday, and that was the case from start to finish in his start against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

Bottom line: Hernandez consistently called almost everything near the corner a ball, Happ never adjusted and the lefty struggled again in losing Game 1 of the Yankees’ first-ever seven-inning doubleheader.

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Happ walked six Phillies while being touched for four runs over three innings and the Yankees wound up blowing an early three-run lead in an 11-7 loss to miss out on starting a season with nine wins in 10 games for the third time in club history.

The Yankees were being routed until scoring four in the seventh to make the final score respectable. After Aaron Judge hit a three-run homer to make it a four-run run, the Yanks put two more on base and Mike Ford almost followed with a three-run homer to make it 11-10, but his towering blast to right curled foul.

Ford then was rung up on the next pitch, maybe the only one all day that Hernandez called a strike that was a hair off the plate.

From there, Miguel Andujar flied out on the next pitch and the Yanks lost for the second time this season.

Playing as the home team for a makeup game from Tuesday night’s rainout at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees built a 3-0 lead through two innings, but the Phils batted around and scored four in the third against Happ to pull ahead 4-3.

Andrew McCutchen started the Phils’ third with a walk, then Bryce Harper homered two batters later to make it a one-run game. A walk, infield single and another walk loaded the bases, then Happ forced in the tying run by walking Phil Gosselin on four pitches. The Phils took the lead when Roman Quinn followed with a bases loaded fielder’s choice groundout.

The Phils turned the game into a rout against Yankees rookie right-hander Nick Nelson, who was shelled for seven runs over 1 2/3 innings, six of them earned. J.T. Realmuto led off the fifth with a homer to make it 5-3, then the Phils batted around for the second time while scoring six in the sixth.

Nelson wasn’t pulled until the game was 11-3 because Yankees manager Aaron Boone wanted to preserve his bullpen as much as possible for a seven-games-in-five-days stretch the began Wednesday.

Phils starter Zack Wheeler (2-0) allowed three runs, two earned, over six innings to pick up the win. The Yanks scored an unearned run in the first to open the second before Brett Gardner hit a two-run homer to right in the second.

This was the second poor start in a row this season for Happ, who has allowed eight runs over seven innings for a 10.29 ERA.

NOTABLE

— C Kyle Higashioka picked up his first two hits, but made a base-running mistake to kill a fourth-inning rally by being doubled off first on a lineout to short and he dropped a throw to the plate in the sixth, allowing two Phillies runs to score.

— 2B DJ LeMahieu hiked his season average to .459 with a 3-for-3 game. He’s hit safely in nine of the Yankees’ first 10 games and had at least two hits in five of them.

— Boone rested four of his regulars in Game 1 – catcher Gary Sanchez, first baseman Luke Voit, third baseman Gio Urshela and designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton.

— Happ became the 219th MLB pitcher to record 1,500 career strikeouts by fanning Roman Quinn in the second with a runner on second and one down. That was his only K.

— Judge extended his hitting streak to seven games with his seventh homer in 10 games.

— SS Gleyber Torres is hitless in his last 13 at-bats and batting .161 for the season after going 0-for-3 with a double-play groundball and a strikeout.

— John Sterling, who was discharged from a New Jersey hospital on Monday after a four-day stay for a blood discover, still isn’t back in the Yankees’ radio booth. Yanks Spanish play-by-play man Rickie Ricardo has been filling in since July 28 on WFAN teaming with analyst Suzyn Waldman.

–Nelson, who won’t be available for a few days after his 38-pitch outing, is a good bet to be farmed out Thursday because the Yanks have to trim their roster from 30 to 28. Spare infielder Thairo Estrada, who has two at-bats this season after going 1-for-1 with an RBI single in Game 1, also likely will be optioned to the Yanks’ Triple-A camp in Moosic, Pa.

LOOKING AHEAD

Wednesday, Yankees at Phillies, Game 2, TBA vs. RHP Aaron Nola (0-1, 6.75).

Thursday, Yankees at Phillies, 6:05 p.m., YES. LHP Jordan Montgomery (1-0, 1.59) vs. RHP Zach Eflin (2020 debut).

Friday, Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays, 6:40 p.m., YES. RHP Masahiro Tanaka (0-0, 3.38) vs. TBA.

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