Devin Williams was on the wrong side of another Yankees loss on Wednesday night. The Yankees, who have been in relative free-fall of late, lost their third straight game to the Blue Jays and their AL East lead in the process. Toronto now technically holds the edge based on tiebreakers. The Yankees completed a memorable comeback from eight runs down, but couldn't overcome a shoddy bullpen.
Williams' tough eighth inning was self-inflicted. He walked George Springer on five pitches, who then stole second. The Yankees then chose to intentionally walk Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Following a sacrifice fly from Alejandro Kirk – during which both runners moved up 90 feet – Williams spiked a changeup in the dirt, allowing Springer to score. The Blue Jays didn't look back.
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Devin Williams pointed the finger elsewhere after Yankees got swept
After the game, Williams did admit at least one mistake, but then refused to admit he made some bad pitches and even refused comment on the decision to intentionally walk Guerrero Jr.
"Yeah, I let Springer get away from me there," Williams admitted. "Intentional walk to the next guy. Sac fly, we got two outs. Yeah, I don't know. I thought I made some pretty solid pitches. Barger hit a pitch that was out of the zone."
When Williams was asked about Aaron Boone's decision to walk Vladdy, all he could muster was "that's not my decision." While technically true, Williams lack of poise with the media is easy to conflate with disagreement, or even drama. All he had to say was that he understood the decision in the moment. By playing coy, and being short, with those tasked with covering the team, he pointed the finger back at Boone.
The Yankees manager didn't seem to take it that way, which says a lot about Boone. He rarely takes shots at player through the media, and if anything is annoyingly optimistic at times.
“We think we’re really good,” Boone said postgame. “We’ve obviously had a tough stretch here, but we’ll get through it. We respect all the teams in this division. We know how tough it is. I always say, you’ve got to pack a lunch when you come play in this division. It’s not surprising that it’s really competitive.”
Did Devin Williams prove the Brewers right for trading him?
Williams is in the final year of his deal and was a sure bet to leave Milwaukee were he not dealt this past winter. In return, the Brewers received Nestor Cortes and Caleb Durbin. While Williams is an electric relief pitcher at his best and likely the Yankees closer, he has been anything but automatic for New York this season. Boone has been forced to change his role on multiple occasions, and defend him from the media relentlessly. The New York media market is far different from Milwaukee, sure, but if Williams were stirring up these kinds of emotions among Brewers fans, it still wouldn't be easy to deal with.
Cortes has made just two starts with the Brewers while Durbin has a 1.5 WAR so far this season. Williams, on the other hand, has a 5.17 ERA. You tell me who won the trade?