The Yankees’ first foray with a playoff bullpen by committee passed with flying colors.
Handed a three-run lead with 2 ¹/₃ innings left to cover, three Yankees relievers did their job, including Clay Holmes securing the save in a 4-1 win over the Guardians in Game 1 of the ALDS on Tuesday night in The Bronx.
The Yankees bullpen was one of the team’s biggest questions entering the postseason, with injuries and inconsistency leaving them without a set closer or defined roles at the most important time of the year. That left manager Aaron Boone to navigate the high-stakes late innings.
But after Gerrit Cole handed the ball off with a 4-1 lead, a man on first and one out in the seventh inning, Jonathan Loaisiga, Wandy Peralta and Holmes combined to do the job.
Loaisiga came on first in the seventh and gave up a single to leadoff man Steven Kwan that put runners on first and second. But he quickly got out of it by getting Amed Rosario to ground into a 6-6-3 double play.
Clay Holmes celebrates with Jose Trevino after closing out the Yankees’ 4-1 ALDS Game 1 win over the Guardians. Jonathan Loaisiga (left) and Wandy Peralta also pitched well out of the pen.Corey Sipkin; N.Y. Post Charles Wenzelberg (2)f The left-handed Peralta then entered for the eighth inning with a lane of left-handed bats due up. Jose Ramirez led off with a single, but Peralta erased him on a 3-5 double play. The reliever, in his first game since Sept. 18 after an IL stint due to thoracic spine tightness, then struck out Oscar Gonzalez to end the inning.
Peralta came back out for the ninth and got the left-handed hitting Andres Gimenez to ground out before Boone pulled him for Holmes. Pitching for the first time since Sept. 26, after dealing with a shoulder strain, Holmes hit pinch-hitter Owen Miller on the first pitch he threw.
But Holmes rebounded to get a groundout and a flyout to end the game.
Boone made sure he continually had options at the ready. When he brought Loaisiga in to replace Cole, Peralta began to warm. And when Peralta replaced Loaisiga, Holmes started to throw in the bullpen. And even when Holmes entered in the ninth, Jameson Taillon was immediately up and throwing.
“We don’t have necessarily the traditional roles right now,” Boone said before the game. “But that said, we’ve got a lot of really good pitchers down there and a lot of really talented options that I’m going to be able to go to. And it’s an opportunity in the biggest month of the year for guys to really step up and shine and really even establish themselves even more.”
