David Lennon: Yankees' David Bednar bounces back, but they have to be concerned about Austin Wells
Austin Wells of the Yankees draws a walk during the ninth inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Yankee Stadium on April 15. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Losing the Subway Series should be considered a big deal to the Yankees. There’s no excuse for dropping two of three at Citi Field to the clearly inferior Mets, who exposed a handful of red flags.
But this week’s homestand against two AL East rivals is considerably bigger, with far more at stake than bragging rights.
The Blue Jays were the first up Monday night, and just the sight of the defending American League champions figured to be enough to remind Aaron Boone & Co. about the long-term stakes involved with each of these games.
Losing the division title to the Jays on a tiebreaker last season was a hard lesson. Being booted by them in the Division Series was an extra kick in the teeth.
“We gotta have a different mindset when it comes to them,” Jazz Chisholm Jr. said. “Every time we see them, it’s like we have that feeling — we owe you something. We’re going to show you what we got.”
Chisholm did his part Monday night — following a two-out, two-run homer by Cody Bellinger by hammering a tiebreaking two-run homer that caromed off the leftfield foul pole in the seventh inning — and the Yankees held on for a 7-6 win, only their third in the past 10 games.
Chisholm stayed in the batter’s box as he watched the ball’s flight, trying to use a little body English to keep it fair. “Oh, yeah, a thousand percent,” he said. “I was trying to steer it with my mind.”
The real drama would come two innings later, however, when closer David Bednar took the mound the day after blowing a 6-3 lead against the Mets, allowing a three-run homer by Tyrone Taylor with two outs in the ninth inning in the Subway Series finale.
He was headed down the same track when a leadoff walk and pinch hitter Jesus Sanchez’s high-chop double over Paul Goldschmidt’s head trimmed the Yankees’ edge to 7-6.
After a strikeout and walk, Bednar was back to the top of the order and immediately fell behind 3-and-0 to George Springer, who already had homered in the game. Then he did the near-impossible, throwing three straight splitters on which Springer whiffed for a huge strikeout.
“I honestly have confidence in all three of my pitches — any time, any count,” Bednar said. “Obviously, I put myself into tough situations, but I have the ultimate confidence in myself to get the job done.”
Then, with his pitch count climbing, Bednar went to 2-and-0 against Vladimir Guerrero Jr. before firing back with a pair of curveballs that evened the count. After another splitter missed, Bednar came back with a splitter again — on pitch No. 36 — to get the game-ending grounder to Chisholm.
“That’s one of the things we love about him — he’s not flappable,” Aaron Boone said. “No matter what’s going on, you trust who he is, and he was able to make enough pitches tonight.”
Nearly too many. Bednar’s season high was 40, but that was to get five outs, and he had thrown 23 on Sunday. With his closer in trouble, Boone hustled to get Brent Headrick ready in the bullpen. I asked him afterward if Guerrero was Bednar’s last batter, based on his pitch count.
“I was probably going to give him [the next hitter] Kazuma Okamoto, because I felt there were some things he could do with that at-bat,” he said. “But I don’t know. I was teetering.”
Regardless, Bednar and the Yankees were quickly able to turn the page on their ugly weekend in Queens and get some measure of revenge on the Blue Jays.
The Yankees batted .160 (4-for-25) with runners in scoring position and stranded 21 in the two losses to the Mets.
Austin Wells was the most glaring offender, going 1-for-10 with five strikeouts as his production further dipped (.173 batting average, .561 OPS).
With runners on first and third and one out in the 10th Sunday, Wells followed a walk to Anthony Volpe by swinging at a first pitch above the strike zone and hitting into a double play. The Mets scored a run in the bottom of the inning for a 7-6 win.
“You’re playing tight, razor-thin games, one thing doesn’t go right, it can cost you,” Boone said Monday afternoon. “But I feel like each guy is certainly in a place where I have a lot of confidence in when they come into that game in the spot they’re supposed to be in.”
Sunday’s loss also sparked the simmering concern over Bednar, who teed up the tying two-out homer by Taylor in the ninth. Stuff happens, but Bednar’s decision to open with a first-pitch curveball — only a week after doing the exact same thing on Brice Turang’s walk-off blast in Milwaukee — was especially galling.
Bednar’s implosion stood in stark contrast with the performances of Luke Weaver and Devin Williams, the two Mets relievers discarded by the Yankees after last season. Weaver pitched two scoreless innings in Saturday’s 6-3 win, escaping a bases-loaded, none-out jam in the seventh. Williams got the save on Saturday and the win on Sunday and was riding a 6 2⁄3-inning scoreless streak (nine strikeouts).
One department in which Boone’s confidence does seem to be waning? That would be starting catcher. Wells has been so anemic at the plate that it’s hard to imagine he used to be considered an offense-first prospect. He went 2-for-23 with 11 strikeouts on the nine-game road trip, prompting Boone to start J.C. Escarra on Monday. “Terrible,” Wells said. “You can read the numbers. It’s not good.”
He added, “I felt like I went through a tough stretch in the last week and a half and didn’t get results in the beginning of the year, so it’s compounded a little bit. I’ll go out there, continue to work on stuff, try to find the rhythm and get some results.”
Boone was asked if Wells’ prolonged slump has opened the door for more of a competition with Escarra.
“We’ll see,” he said. “I do think both guys are really capable. Obviously Austin has more of a track record and has had offensive success at the big-league level that J.C. has not necessarily yet. I don’t know. I’m in the here and now. J.C. is in there [Monday] and we’ll go from there.”
If the Yankees find something that works, best to stick with it. Especially this week.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
