The first New York Yankees appearance for closer Devin Williams didn’t come as clean as many would have liked. Facing his former team the Milwaukee Brewers on Opening Day, Williams took the mound in the top of the ninth inning to protect a three-run lead and knock down the save.
Yankees’ Devin Williams was shaky in his first save opportunity
However, it took him a minute to settle in. He gave up a leadoff single to Joey Ortiz and then a double to Isaac Collins before walking Jake Bauers to load the bases before recording an out. Nervous tension started to brew amongst the Yankee Stadium crowd as Williams was struggling with his location to start the inning.
After giving up a sacrifice fly to the No. 9 hitter Brice Turang to make it a 4-2 Yankees lead, pitching coach Matt Blake came to the mound to help calm down Williams. The All-Star closer followed that up with strikeouts to Jackson Chourio and Christian Yelich to secure the save and avoid disaster.
Williams described after the game how he was able to settle in and escape the jam after a rocky start to his outing.
“You know, just staying focused on the next pitch, you can’t go back in time. So, the only option is to move forward,” Williams said via SNY.
Williams will be a key part of the Yankees bullpen this season
Williams needed that save for his sake. In his last appearance as a Brewer last year, he served up a go-ahead three-run to Pete Alonso in the ninth inning of Game 3 of the NL Wild Card game, to which Milwaukee would lose as a result and be eliminated from the playoffs.
The Yankees are also hoping to get the All-Star version of Williams this season. Last season, Clay Holmes spent most of the season as the closer before losing it to Luke Weaver after blowing 13 saves. Weaver delivered strong results as the closer throughout the postseason, and he now figures to be the setup man behind Williams in the Yankees’ bullpen.
The important thing is that Williams was able to settle in and secure the save and the win for his team in a big Opening Day win. The hope is that the shakiness doesn’t become a recurring trend and that he gets into his usual form again.