Yankees fans may have been confused when they saw Devin Williams warming up to come in to pitch the eighth inning of a 0-0 game on Tuesday night.
It was less than 24 hours prior that manager Aaron Boone called on Williams to close out Monday's series opener against the Rangers. The closer allowed a game-tying homer to Joc Pederson in the Yankees' eventual loss in extra innings. So, in a high-leverage situation and riding a four-game losing streak, why did Boone call on Williams again?
"We got to piece it together there once Will [Warren] goes five, we’re set up there," Boone explained after the game. "Liked him in that middle with a handful of those righties. Obviously, just couldn’t finish it off."
Warren pitched in and out of trouble through five scoreless innings for the Yankees. Boone then used Camilo Doval and Luke Weaver to keep the Rangers off the board in the sixth and seventh innings. Unfortunately, Williams couldn't keep Texas off the board. After getting Marcus Semien to ground out to start the eighth, Adolis Garcia lined a double off the top of Jasson Dominguez's glove for a double. Williams then walked Pederson and Wyatt Langford to load the bases.
Boone had Mark Leiter Jr. — activated Tuesday from the IL — and David Bednar warming up, but the longtime skipper stuck with Williams. Unfortunately, Rowdy Tellez battled through a 10-pitch at-bat to line a two-run single, the difference in the game.
"I was going to maybe go with Bednar in a four-out situation," Boone said, giving his rationale for keeping Williams on the mound. "Just shorten the game a little bit. Not a lot left down there. Leiter being in a situation where he hasn’t pitched in a while. If I could get it to a four-out scenario, I was going to do it. Felt Devin could get some swing-and-miss there, but obviously didn’t."
"I don’t know what to say at this point," Williams said of his performance after the game. "Just continue to work, keep trying to execute and help the team any way I can."
Williams has now allowed 26 runs this season, which equals the runs allowed the three seasons prior combined.
It's been an up-and-down season for the first-year Yankee. Williams allowed 15 earned runs from March to May, losing the closer's role to Weaver. But once Weaver went down to injury, Williams regained his spot and to his credit, he excelled. In 10 appearances in June, Williams allowed just one run. He would stay solid until the end of July. Across his last four appearances, Williams has allowed six runs over 3.2 innings, blowing two saves in the process.
"Not sure [why Williams has struggled this year]. Obviously, in the middle here, he’s been really good," Boone said. "Lately, he’s had some struggles. We got to hopefully help him turn the corner and get part of a group that can still be very good down there.
"I don’t know stuff-wise is off. A little bit command, walks have hurt him here and there. Times when he gets behind in the count have hurt him a little bit. We have to get him turned around."
Tuesday's loss was more than just Williams allowing the go-ahead runs. The Yankees offense mustered just two hits against the Rangers and have now dropped five games in a row. What's worse, the Rangers have gained two games on New York in the Wild Card standings. After the loss, and the Mariners' victory, the Yankees fell to third in the Wild Card race and remain just 0.5 games ahead of the Rangers for that final spot.
A loss to the Rangers on Wednesday will see the Yankees out of the playoffs.
With that in mind, Boone was asked where he felt things are with his team.
"Not good," he said. "We got to put it on record. If we don’t win, it doesn’t matter. We play like this and don’t string wins together, it doesn’t matter. I remain confident in this group, but we continue to say that and we have to make it happen."
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