Will Joe Girardi trust Dellin Betances in Yankees’ wild-card game?
Joe Girardi, not always the funniest guy in the room, was asked Monday how he plans to use Dellin Betances in Tuesday night’s AL wild-card game against the Twins at Yankee Stadium.
“In relief,” Girardi said.
Like we said, Girardi is not usually comic relief. What he wants is quality relief from Betances, who struggled down the stretch and is no longer a lock to get the eighth inning.
At the moment, Betances appears to be fourth on the “trusted reliever” depth chart behind Aroldis Chapman, David Robertson and Chad Green.
As the Yankees were chasing the Red Sox in the final week, Girardi also had one eye on getting Betances straightened out. The first three outings were fine — a scoreless inning each time — but the righthander was yanked after allowing a hit and a walk in his last appearance Friday.
“I thought three of the four games he was really good,” Girardi said. “I went and got him the other day because he gave up a hit and walked a guy on some close pitches in that situation. But I do feel good about Dellin. This is a reliever that struck out 100 batters for the last four years. Has he had a few command issues? Yes, he’s had a few command issues at times, but when he gets on a roll, he’s extremely dangerous, and we’re going to get him on a roll.”
Said Betances: “I feel like three out of the four outings I felt good. I felt the stuff was better. I was attacking the strike zone. I’m going to take the positive from that into the postseason.”
The problem is the Yankees are playing a loser-goes-home game Tuesday. Girardi might not be able to afford to use Betances in a big spot if he’s not sure of what he’s going to get.
“Someone asked me what’s the perfect game plan? There isn’t one,” Girardi said. “I’m going to look at situations and match up and where I feel each guy is probably best suited to pitch, and that’s how we’re going to use him.”
Overall, Betances went 3-6 with a 2.87 ERA, 10 saves and 100 strikeouts in 59 2/3 innings. He gave up only 29 hits, but walked 44 and hit 11 batters. It’s the fewest innings he’s thrown since his rookie season, so Betances said he feels rested.
“I’m excited,” Betances said. “Obviously, this is what we play for. We worked hard in the offseason, we come together in spring training as a group, play all season to get to this point, just to have a chance. It’s going to be a big game. It’s going to be fun.”
Betances said he used his fastball more in the season’s final week to set up his signature breaking pitch.
“I definitely did,” Betances said. “I felt like I was relying on just my off-speed [pitch]. There were times that it wasn’t there and I kept throwing it. Got myself into trouble. I made sure that the last four times I was out there to just use my fastball a little more and mix it with my off-speed.”
Anthony Rieber covers sports media and business and professional sports (you know, games and trades and things). He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since Jan. 1, 2026.
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