NEW YORK -- When the Yankees took a lead for the third time Thursday night at Yankee Stadium - Luke Voit did the honors by belting a tie-breaking, two-run homer in the home half of the seventh - manager Aaron Boone had to decide on how he wanted to close out the Detroit Tigers.
With closer Aroldis Chapman on the disabled list and David Robertson having just pitched an inning of relief, Boone's options for the final six outs were red-hot Dellin Betances and newcomer Zach Britton in some order.
Yankees trade for McCutchen | What it means
Boone opted to get through the eighth with Britton, a three-time All-Star closer in Baltimore who still is working his way back into top form after undergoing offseason Achilles surgery, then go to Betances for the ninth.
Didn't work.
Britton worked a scoreless eighth, but Betances issued a walk and then two homers in succession with one out in the ninth and the Yankees wound up losing 8-7.
Why Britton and then Betances?
Here's how Boone explained his decision:
"Well, I just think right now as we continue to try to build up Britton, we'll kind of flip those matchups on who actually gets the ninth inning. That's kind of a fluid situation, but the way Dellin's been throwing right now, we just feel like he's in such a good place. Top of the order coming up there (in the ninth), we liked that matchup with where Dellin's at."
That all makes sense.
But playing to the matchups also would have made sense, and that would have meant using Betances, a righty, to pitch the eighth with the Tigers having five consecutive right-handers due up.
Betances wound up facing four righties in getting through the eighth, which had the lefty-throwing Britton starting the ninth facing two righties and then two left-handed bats.
In the Tigers ninth, Betances walked the second righty, Nicholas Castellanos, then the two lefties went yard, first Victor Martinez with a game-tying, two-run shot to right, then Niko Goodrum with a tie-breaking homer to right four pitches later.
Just like that, a 7-5 Yankees lead turned into an 8-7 deficit, and that's how the game ended.
This was he second time in nine days that a late-inning bullpen decision by Boone backfired. On Aug. 22 in Miami, Boone opted to put rookie long reliever Chance Adams into the game in the seventh inning with the Marlins up two runs and the Yankees wound up being blown out 9-3.
After the game, Boone said that he would have gone to stud reliever Chad Green in the seventh if the Yankees had been down one run instead of two
A week later, Boone left himself open to criticism again, although it's hard getting on him for trying to get the final three outs with Betances.
This was a rare off night for Betances, when entered the night with a 2.14 ERA over 54 appearances. Since May 27, he had allowed just two runs and 12 hits over 33 2/3 innings in 35 outings, but the Tigers, who have hit the fewest homers in baseball, bombed him for three runs on two homers in one inning.
This was just the second time all season that Betances was closing, and afterward he was bummed about letting his team down with the game on the line.
"I'm just trying to be ready whenever my name is called upon," Betances said. "I tried to do the job as best as I can and I came up short on that."
Maybe the outcome would have been different if Boone had used Betances for the eighth and saved Britton for the ninth in case the lefties hit.
To Boone, however, Betances' long run of success trumped the matchups and Britton being a star closer during his time with the Orioles.
"He's been on such a good run and throwing the ball so well," Boone said. "Today he just wasn't putting guys away like he normally does and two lefties clipped him."
Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
The author
No comments: