Yankees' feel-good Opening Day win tested by new closer Devin Williams

Devin Williams was one more poor pitch from coming out of the game or blowing his first save opportunity and ruining an otherwise outstanding Opening Day for the Yankees. 

The bases were loaded and the right-hander had to feel as if the roof was caving in on him as his old team, the Milwaukee Brewers, were making his job difficult, especially in not chasing the changeup that has made him one of the most dominant relievers in baseball the last few years. 

In the end, however, Williams found a way to avoid disaster and get the job done, limiting the damage to one run while striking out the last two batters even as his pitch count climbed into the 30s. 

And so afterward manager Aaron Boone was quick to smile at his press conference and say, “I love that he didn’t break. He was in a corner there but he kept making pitches. It’s not always easy but we know how good he is.”

The result was that Williams and the Yankees escaped with a 4-2 win on Opening Day in the Bronx, a win that offered reason for them to feel good about their ballclub after their injury-plagued spring. 

There was Carlos Rodon, pitching like at least mostly like an ace in the absence of Gerrit Cole, dominating the Brewers over five innings before a couple of walks elevated his pitch count and knocked him out of the game. 

There was Austin Wells, the newly-minted leadoff hitter, making all sorts of history, from becoming the first Yankee catcher ever to lead off to becoming the first catcher in the majors ever to hit a leadoff home run on Opening Day. 

And there was the depth of the bullpen on display, as Tim Hill, Mark Leiter Jr., and Luke Weaver got eight outs while allowing only two baserunners before things got hairy in the ninth with Williams. 

“A great team win,” Wells called it. “We had so many good things happen.”

Intriguing as well, starting with Rodon. 

Boone was candid even before the game, talking about Rodon’s difficulty to adapt to pitching in such a pressurized environment after signing his big contract two years ago with the Yankees.

“As rough as his first year was,” Boone said, “that could have derailed a lot of people. But he really leaned into that. He connected with the people he needed to connect with and developed a really good routine to focus on the task at hand.”

Boone admitted that controlling his emotions on the mound has been the most difficult part for Rodon, and as such the manager was looking at the season-opening start as a test of just how far the lefty had evolved as a Yankee.

So after Rodon delivered his strong 5 1/3 innings that included seven strikeouts and only those two sixth-inning walks, Boone was beaming. 

“He was really in command of his emotions,” the manager said. “If he does that he’s capable of that every time.”

Boone also made the point that Rodon has expanded his repertoire since coming to the Yankees mostly as a fastball-slider guy, and has weapons to make him a much more complete pitcher. 

“The changeup is a very important pitch to him now," Boone said. "To have longevity as a pitcher you’ve got to be able to evolve, and he’s doing that.”

As for Wells, the first-inning home run was quite a jump-start to his career as a leadoff hitter, a slot for which Boone thought he fit well because of his on-base percentage and his aura, if you will, even as a young player. 

“There’s just a presence about him,” Boone said. “Something you notice right away. I think he’s going to be one of the best two-way catchers in the league.”

Perhaps, but Wells admitted he didn’t believe Boone was serious when the manager approached him about it in spring training. 

“I really thought he was messing with me,” Wells said. “But then I did it, and it continued, and here we are. I’m good with it.”

Together with a home run by Anthony Volpe, a blast off the right-field wall by Ben Rice, and Wells’ first-inning blast it was a statement of sorts about what it will take for the 2025 Yankees to win big. They’re going to need breakout years from their young players, including Jasson Dominguez as well, if this team is going to have enough offense to overcome the loss of not only the injured Giancarlo Stanton but the departed Juan Soto. 

In that sense it was a feel-good day at Yankee Stadium, with things falling into place nicely for eight innings, setting the stage for Williams, the closer for whom they traded with these Brewers. 

Then suddenly a quiet came over the Stadium as Williams struggled. Nerves likely played a part but there was also the question of lingering scar tissue from that Pete Alonso home run last October that Williams gave up to blow the wild-card series against the Mets.

Disaster loomed, to the point where Boone went to the mound to take Willliams’ temperature and give him some rest, worried that he might have to pull him. 

“But he kept making pitches,” Boone said. 

Finally he began getting results: a sac fly, then he struck out Jackson Chourio swinging at a changeup, and after going to 3-2 on Christian Yelich, knowing he was coming out of game soon as his pitch count sat at 35, Williams reached back and blew 95 past Yelich for a strikeout to end the game.

Afterward Williams called it “a weird day” facing his old teammates, and thought their familiarity with him worked to their favor. 

“My command wasn’t great but they laid off some tough pitches,” he said. “They really made me work for it. But I just focused on making pitches. I know there are more eyes on me here with the Yankees but I wasn’t thinking about that on the mound. I’m pretty laid-back. I was able to get the job done.”

He didn’t break, as Boone put it, and maybe that bodes well for both him and the Yankees this season. On this day, anyway, it was the last bit of positivity to make these Yankees believe they can have a special season, injuries and all.