Williams collapses: Yankees fall to Astros and reliever in crisis

Devin Williams and His Continuing Struggles: Yankees Suffer Defeat Against Astros

Yankees reliever Devin Williams experienced another difficult night on Friday, allowing three runs in the tenth inning during the 5-3 loss to the Houston Astros. Carlos Correa hit a single to break the tie, followed by a two-run homer by Taylor Trammell, extending the lead to 5-2. Williams has given up four home runs in his last eight appearances.

“I’m not throwing,” Williams told reporters. “It’s pretty simple. I’m terrible right now.”

Devin Williams

In his last four outings, Williams has accumulated two blown saves and two losses, allowing at least one run in five consecutive appearances since July 29. This year, he has allowed 28 earned runs, two more than in the sum of 2022 to 2024.

“I haven’t really had any issues like that since 2018, after Tommy John surgery,” Williams commented. “The only thing I did then was keep working and try to help the team in any way I could.”

Devin Williams

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he will continue to use Williams and will look for “more favorable situations” for him.

“We’ll try to find good spots for him to be an important part of the bullpen again, as he should be,” Boone said.

Aaron Boone

Boone noted that his bullpen was limited on Friday after David Bednar threw 42 pitches on Wednesday and Mark Leiter Jr. participated in Tuesday and Wednesday’s games. New York suffered its sixth loss in seven games, falling to 3-8 in extra innings. The Astros needed four pitches to take the lead in the tenth inning. The automatic runner, Jose Altuve, advanced to third when Williams threw his first pitch to the catcher. After the Yankees moved their infield forward, Correa hit a changeup to center field. Williams (3-5) got two outs before Trammell sent a 0-1 changeup into the right field stands. The Astros won for the third time in four games, maintaining their lead in the American League West despite having only 10 wins in their last 26 games. Williams joined the Yankees in a trade in December, after playing six seasons for the Milwaukee Brewers.