CLEVELAND — The yankees/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Yankees played musical chairs with their closer last season, going from Devin Williams to Luke Weaver to Devin Williams to bednar-loves-110046902.html" rel>David Bednar. The year before, a string of Clay Holmes blown saves led to Luke Weaver taking over.
This season, it was easy to remember those late-inning bullpen struggles leading to change when Bednar had a recent rough stretch that included only three clean outings in nine appearances from late April until the middle of May.
When Bednar blew a three-run, ninth-inning lead at Citi Field on May 17, a game the Mets won in 10 innings, his ERA was up to 4.95. The next night, it climbed to 5.14 with Bednar allowing a ninth-inning run while saving a 7-6 victory over the Blue Jays.
Yankees -1.5 runline is set at +122 on DraftKings for Tuesday’s clash versus the Guardians. Our complete DraftKings Sportsbook review will show you how to register and use their app.
Before the closer situation deteriorated further, Bednar transformed into what he mostly was last season, before and after his July 31 trade from the Pirates to the Yankees.
Bednar came up big again Monday night when he worked 1 2/3 scoreless innings and was the winning pitcher in a 7-5, 10-inning victory over the Guardians.
This made it 6 2/3 scoreless over his last six outings with a 13th save in 15 chances and a win that improved his record to 2-3.
“He’s been really good,” manager Aaron Boone said of Bednar, whose 27-pitch outing lowered his ERA to 3.90.
This is Bednar’s best stretch since very early into his Yankees tenure. After he allowed two runs in 1 2/3 innings while blowing a save in his Yankees debut, he worked 6.2 scoreless over his next six. But that stretch included a blown save by walking in a run after replacing Camilo Doval with the bases loaded in the eighth inning in a tie game.
With the Yankees running out of relievers Monday, Boone was down to two when he picked Bednar over Fernando Cruz to enter a 5-5 game in the ninth inning after lefty Tim Hill retired the leadoff hitter.
Bednar got the Yankees to extra innings by striking out two in a row, then he came back out for the 10th after Cody Bellinger broke the tie with a two-run single in the top of the inning.
Pitching with a ghost runner on second base, Bednar walked leadoff hitter Angel Martinez, bringing the go-ahead run to the plate before retiring the next three hitters. Steven Kwan lined to short for the first out, Patrick Bailey struck out looking and Brayan Rocchio grounded out to second to end the game.
“I thought the splitter was really good,” Boone said. “He used the curve ball a couple times when he needed it to sprinkle that in, and then a couple really well executed fastballs, including the second out there in the 10th, where they were probably laying soft or split on him and he froze them with a fastball. I thought he just did a good job of staying fairly efficient, too, in a five-out scenario.”
Initial test results are in on catcher Austin Wells, who went on the injured list Saturday with neck stiffness that has been causing cervical headaches.
“Preliminary, all negative,” Boone said after Monday’s game. “So far, so good.”
What’s next for Wells, who is on the 10-day injured list?
“I’m sure he’ll meet with the doctor again this week and then hopefully he’ll be able to start ramping up,” Boone added.
Warren didn’t make it through five innings because his pitch count was up to 91 through 4 2/3 innings, even though the righty allowed three runs, two earned, on only three hits and two walks.
Facing five left-handed hitters and four switch-hitters who batted left, Warren walked only two, but there were a lot of Guardians foul balls, 12 in the first four batters of the game, all outs.
“I thought he was all right,” Boone said. “You run nine lefties at him, it’s a tough go.”
Although Warren missed out on improving his staff-best record to 7-1, he allowed two or fewer earned runs for the 11th time in 13 starts. His 3.28 ERA is the 11th best among qualified AL pitchers.
Warren, however, was disappointed. The Yankees were ahead 3-0 when they scored an unearned run in the third, but the Guardians tied it in the bottom of the inning when a leadoff walk and double turned into three runs, the last scoring on an error by shortstop Jose Caballero.
“It’s definitely unusual (facing all-left-handed hitters), but I think I should be able to take ’em out and have success,” Warren said.
Read the original article on NJ.com. Add NJ.com as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Discover more from NAIRAVOICE.COM.NG
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
