NEW YORK _ The Yankees are not in Baltimore anymore.
No one had homered off Chad Green since July 5, but when the Cleveland Indians took him deep they made it count. Jose Ramirez's first-inning grand slam put the Indians ahead of the Yankees in a hurry in Thursday's series opener at Yankee Stadium and they didn't stop there.
Jason Kipnis then lined one into the bleachers and Green was off the mound and into the dugout before the bleacher creatures could even throw it back on to the field.
After beating up on the relegation-worthy Baltimore Orioles for the better part of the last few weeks the Yankees finally faced a contender. The AL East leaders failed to play like contenders themselves in a 19-5 loss.
In his 10th appearance as an opener this season, Greene lasted only 1/3 of an inning and was tagged for five earned runs on four hits. He walked one and struck out one in the loss, his fourth of the season (3-4). It was in stark contrast to the performance he turned in Monday when he needed only 11 pitches to blank the Orioles through 1 1/3 innings. The Yankees were 10-0 with Greene as the opener until Thursday.
Adam Plutko (5-3) earned the win for Cleveland in six innings, limiting the Yankees to three earned runs on six hits, walking one and striking out three.
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After the Yankees went down 12-1 in the fifth a position player taking the mound felt inevitable. New Jersey native and 2013 Ivy League Pitcher of the Year Mike Ford had the dubious honor of pitching the final two innings for New York. He managed to get one out before putting the next three on to give up a run.
It went predictably downhill from there.
Greg Allen hit a three-run shot to right-center to extend the Indians' lead to 18-4. Carlos Santana went back-to-back, hitting his second home run of the night. The moonshot to the second deck in right field made it 19-4 and had Ford laughing on the mound.
Ford was then introduced as a pitcher in his at-bat in the bottom of the inning and nearly made it 19-6. He took the ball again in the ninth and retired the side in order, no laughing matter.
Three of the Yankees' five runs came via the long ball. Didi Gregorius and Gary Sanchez slugged homers off Plutko while Gleyber Torres took one off Phil Maton in the eighth.
The Indians scored their season-high 19 runs on 24 hits, beating up on the vaunted New York bullpen.
