Led by All-Star Clay Holmes, Yankees' bullpen has been a huge plus
Yankees relief pitcher Clay Holmes looks on from the mound against the Oakland Athletics during the ninth inning of an MLB baseball game at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, June 28, 2022. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
BOSTON — There was no anger in the Yankees' clubhouse after Saturday night’s 10-inning loss to the Red Sox at Fenway Park.
Then again, there wasn't much to be angry about after the kind of loss every team — good and bad — absorbs more than a few times during the course of the season.
Start with this: The 6-5 loss, which occurred when the bullpen blew a one-run lead in the eighth and a two-run lead in the 10th, “dropped” the Yankees to an MLB-best 61-24.
Michael King and Clay Holmes combined to allow the tying run to score in the eighth, with Alex Verdugo grounding a two-out RBI single to leftfield against the shift. Wandy Peralta, handed a 5-3 lead in the 10th after RBI doubles by Aaron Judge and Anthony Rizzo, allowed three runs in the bottom half. Verdugo won it with a two-out, two-run single to right after Josh Donaldson was unable to turn a potential game-ending double play. Although he got the out at first, his momentary bobble not only gave the Red Sox an extra at-bat but allowed the winning run to get into scoring position.
The loss dropped them to a remarkable 48-1 this season when leading after the seventh inning, with Saturday representing the club’s first hiccup in that category.
Obviously, a bullpen that has been accurately called “lights-out” throughout the season by Aaron Boone is front and center for the why of the 48-1 mark (and has had more than a bit part in the 61-24 overall record, too).
Before Sunday night’s game, the Yankees got the news that one of those bullpen members — Holmes — had been named to the All-Star Game (along with teammates Gerrit Cole, Nestor Cortes and Jose Trevino to go along with those who had been voted in, Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge).
Even with the loss, the Yankees still led the AL East by 15 games over the second-place Red Sox. Which was why the overwhelming clubhouse feeling late Saturday night was more one of surprise than anything else.
“They’re so good,’’ Jordan Montgomery, Saturday night’s starter, said of the bullpen. “No one’s perfect. Clay gave up, what, an infield hit. If we don’t shift, that’s a routine play. And Verdugo just hit it where we weren’t. They’ll keep making pitches and they’ll keep being great. We’ve got full trust in them.”
Despite giving up four runs Saturday, the Yankees' bullpen still had the second-best ERA in the majors (2.68), trailing only the Astros’ bullpen, which brought a 2.62 ERA into Sunday’s action. The group has a 4.5 WAR, according to FanGraphs, which is the second-best mark in the majors behind Atlanta’s bullpen, which had a 4.8 WAR going into Sunday.
Rizzo, speaking earlier in the season about the bullpen, indicated the Yankees’ success in comeback victories (they came into Sunday with an MLB-leading 26 comeback wins), is connected to the bullpen’s excellence.
“Teams, when you don’t have the lead and you can hold being down by only a couple of runs and not give them more runs, it gives us belief [we can] come back,” Rizzo said. “It goes hand-in-hand. Once you believe you can do it and once you do it, you believe more.”
Making the group’s accomplishments even more impressive is the fact that the Yankees have been missing some of the pitchers the club expected to be dominant bullpen arms when spring training ended. Jonathan Loaisiga, expected back soon from the injured list — where he’s been since May 25 with right shoulder inflammation — had a 7.02 ERA before getting hurt. Chad Green was lost for the season in May (and underwent Tommy John surgery in early June). Closer Aroldis Chapman was more of a roller-coaster ride than usual before spending time on the IL with left Achilles tendinitis.
But Holmes, who seamlessly took over for Chapman, has been the AL’s best reliever, toting a 0.46 ERA into Sunday. King, who was charged with a run Saturday, has a 2.33 ERA and has struck out 62 in 46 1/3 innings (and has a good chance to be a seventh Yankees All-Star when the inevitable one or two pitchers pull out for whatever reason).
Even after allowing three runs Saturday, Peralta has a 2.51 ERA and has held the opposition to a .190 batting average.
“Any time you see them get dinged a little bit, [it’s surprising],” Boone said of the bullpen’s performance Saturday, “but you realize the other side, and you always realize, are good too, and that happens.”
It just hasn’t happened very often to the Yankees.
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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