The eighth inning was playing out like a recurring Yankees nightmare, complete with a throwing error and Camilo Doval walking a pair of hitters.
When David Bednar came in with the bases loaded and proceeded to walk in a run, throwing four straight balls to Christian Walker after going up 0-and-2 in the count, tying the game at 4-4, every one of the 45,738 at the Stadium could see where this one was going.
And every one of the 45,738 faithful would have been dead wrong about that.
Bednar not only struck out the next two Astros to work his way out of the jam but stayed on to get the win after Trent Grisham’s homer gave the Yankees a 5-4 lead that turned into a winning final score against Houston on Saturday in The Bronx.
“I was hoping Doval for one [inning] and Bednar for one,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Hopefully, one of these times, I can get Bednar one inning only, but just another big effort by him.”
It was a third straight solid outing from Bednar and a second consecutive five-out appearance after his 42-pitch effort on Wednesday in Texas.
Though the confrontation with Walker got messy, Bednar quickly righted the ship, leaving the bases loaded with the go-ahead run on third in the eighth and working an easy 1-2-3 ninth.
With Devin Williams struggling badly, it appears Bednar might be turning himself into Boone’s most trustworthy bullpen option late in games.
“I think still trying to feel out when my name’s called, so I’m ready whenever,” Bednar said. “Whenever the phone rings, I’m ready to roll.”
The bullpen has been a consistent sore spot for the Yankees, with Doval also struggling since coming over at the trade deadline while fellow acquisition Jake Bird was optioned to Triple-A after just two appearances.
Bednar blew a save in his first appearance as a Yankee after coming over as a deadline acquisition from the Pirates, but has been reliable since.
Nobody envisioned the 30-year-old almost immediately becoming one of the club’s most important back-end relievers, but that has become the case with Bednar having spent all of 10 days in pinstripes.
“It’s been great,” Boone said. “I can’t throw him in any deeper of a fire. … Great job by him and I’m not gonna run him again there much past 30 pitches. So to be as efficient as he was, too, in the ninth was big.”
