NEW YORK _ Jacoby Ellsbury's spectacular catch came at a cost.
Diagnosed with a concussion and a neck sprain, the Yankees center fielder exited Wednesday night's game after the first inning and is likely headed to the disabled list.
Boosted by the Ellsbury play, Yankees starter Luis Severino was sharp in tossing eight shutout innings in a 3-0 win against the Royals at Yankee Stadium.
Didi Gregorius belted a third-inning leadoff home run, the first of the Yanks' three runs off Royals starter Jason Hammel (1-6). Severino (3-2) gave up just four hits and a walk and had seven strikeouts.
Ellsbury's sensational play came on Severino's first pitch of the game.
Royals leadoff man Alcides Escobar sent a drive to deep center, where a sprinting Ellsbury quickly ran it down. As he reached out to make the catch at the wall, Ellsbury smashed into the padded fence almost simultaneously.
Ellsbury's cap went flying as he bounced off the wall and hit the ground, but he hung onto the ball.
Fellow outfielders Brett Gardner and Aaron Judge raced over to attend to Ellsbury, followed by manager Joe Girardi and head athletic trainer Steve Donohue.
At one point, Ellsbury was administered smelling salts by Donohue. He was allowed to remain in the game, eliciting an ovation from the crowd of 34,610, many of whom had barely been seated.
The inning was quickly completed without Ellsbury receiving another outfield chance. But Aaron Hicks replaced Ellsbury in center field for the top of the second inning. Scheduled to bat sixth on Wednesday, Ellsbury never came to the plate.
Hicks is likely to be the regular center fielder in Ellsbury's absence.
As a roster replacement, the first-place Yankees (27-17) could recall infielder/outfielder Rob Refsnyder or outfielder Mason Williams from Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Center fielder Dustin Fowler and top outfield prospect Clint Frazier seem to be longshot possibilities to be big-league replacements since neither is on the current 40-man roster.
Ellsbury was slashing .281/.349/.422 at the time of his injury, with four homers, 14 RBIs and eight stolen bases in 10 attempts.
The Yanks still had a 1-0 lead against the Royals (19-27) in the sixth when Gary Sanchez snapped an 0-for-12 stretch with a leadoff single. He advanced to second on his first stolen base of the year and moved to third as catcher Salvador Perez's throw sailed away.
Sanchez scored on Matt Holliday's sacrifice fly.
Gregorius led off the sixth with a ground rule double and scored on Brett Gardner's one-out, line single to left.
Dellin Betances entered the ninth and notched his fourth save.
Aroldis Chapman will have his sore left shoulder re-examined on Friday. If all goes as planned, the Yankees' closer is expected to begin a throwing program on Saturday.
That puts Chapman's return to the Yanks' bullpen roughly around June 12, the timetable that was planned when the flame-throwing lefty was placed on the 10-day disabled list _ retroactive to May 13 _ due to left rotator cuff inflammation.
Until then, there will be a lot of games to be saved and Betances _ an AL All-Star setup man over the past three seasons _ is more than capable of filling that role.
The Yankees' deeper issue is with other relievers having their roles altered, or stepping up in the pecking order while Chapman is on the mend.
"It changes things a lot in a sense," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said of his bullpen configuration. "I think the loss of Chapman has really changed Adam (Warren's) role the most."
Being used more frequently and for shorter durations since Chapman hit the DL, Warren has stumbled lately. On Tuesday night, Warren inherited a 2-1 lead in the seventh with none on base and served up a single and a two-run homer to Jorge Bonifacio.
"I thought his stuff was good (Tuesday night). I thought he just made one mistake and it cost him," Girardi said after Warren took the 6-2 loss against the Royals at Yankee Stadium.
