NEW YORK – It was the battle of the bullpens between the Yankees and Astros on Friday night at Yankee Stadium, and New York came up short, 5-3 in 10 innings.
The Yankees (61-55) have gone just 19-30 since June 13. They find themselves in third place in the American League East, 6 1/2 games behind the Blue Jays (68-49), and clinging to the third and final AL Wild Card spot by just a half-game ahead of the Guardians (60-55), who pounded the White Sox, 9-5.
Yankees reliever Devin Williams found himself pitching in the ninth inning or later for the third time in four games, and he didn’t get the job done – again.
With the score tied at 2 in the top of the 10th and Jose Altuve as the automatic runner on second, Williams threw a wild pitch that allowed Altuve to advance to third. With the infield in, Carlos Correa singled up the middle, bringing home Altuve with the go-ahead run.
Three batters later, Williams hung a changeup and Taylor Trammell hit a two-run homer to make it a three-run game. It was the fourth homer allowed by Williams in his past eight games.
“Correa does a good job of probably sitting on the changeup, [which was] down and out of the zone. Not a bad pitch where he breaks the bat off the end,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “[The pitch] hangs to Trammell, though.”
Why didn’t Boone use David Bednar or Mark Leiter Jr. instead of Williams? The skipper had already made up his mind before the game that Bednar and Leiter were going to be used only in an emergency. Bednar needed 42 pitches to earn his first save as a Yankee against the Rangers on Wednesday, while Leiter pitched in back-to-back games against Texas on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Since July 2, Williams has allowed 13 runs (12 earned) in 13 2/3 innings. The way Boone was talking, he is going to try not to put Williams in stressful situations.
“We just try to find softer landing spots,” Boone said. “Hard to do that right now when you have a short outing by the starter and you are piecing it together and you have a guy down – [you] don’t always have the opportunities. We’ll try to find good spots for him and get him back to being a big part of the ‘pen, where he should be.”
From the sound of his voice, Williams is stunned that he is struggling. He hasn’t struggled this much since 2018, when he posted a 5.82 ERA in 14 games in the Class A Advanced Carolina League while coming off Tommy John surgery.
This time, Williams is not coming off an injury. He has a 5.73 ERA during his first season in New York. Compare it to his time with the Brewers, when he had a 1.83 ERA over six years.
“I’m not making pitches. It’s pretty simple. I stink right now,” Williams said. “You give me the ball, I try to do my best.”
Asked if he felt confident, Williams said, “I’m not going to say it’s [as] high as it’s ever been – obviously not with the way things have been going.”
Williams feels he is close to finding consistency on the mound. If one looks at the games he has pitched, it has often come down to one mistake, and opposing teams are making him pay for it.
“It has been tough,” Williams said.
