Devin Williams returned to the mound after back-to-back rocky outings cost him his closer job and looked like the pitcher the Yankees acquired to anchor the back end of the bullpen.

Williams faced the Orioles' five-six-seven hitters as he looked to preserve a one-run deficit and give the top of the Yanks order a chance at some ninth-inning heroics on Monday night in Baltimore. While the right-hander did his job, the bats didn’t hold up their end of the bargain in the 4-3 loss.

“Really good,” manager Aaron Boone said of the demoted closer's 14-pitch (nine-strike) eighth inning. “Just liked his look out there. Was aggressive, just in the strike zone, aggressive with his fastball.”

It was three straight heaters to Ryan Mountcastle to get ahead 1-2, before a nasty changeup was whiffed for the first out.

“I thought every changeup he threw, [I] pretty good angle from it over there [from] my vantage point in the dugout, I liked the depth on the pitch,” the skipper added. “But also establishing his fastball in the strike zone with it.”

Williams battled Heston Kjerstad with the young left-handed outfielder fouling off three pitches and taking three balls before a changeup was weakly grounded to first. Ramon Urias saw two fastballs, ultimately popping out to first to close the door.

Popular in the Community