Yankees skipper Aaron Boone goes to bat for Devin Williams after meltdown vs. Padres

Devin Williams melted down in the eighth inning on Monday night, and the New York Yankees blew a lead to lose the game. Nursing a 3-0 lead, he entered and loaded the bases with two outs. His reliever could not get out of the inning, and the Yankees ended up losing.

Prior to that, Williams had been in good form since his demotion. He'd had three straight scoreless outings, only giving up one baserunner by way of a walk during those three innings. It all came crashing down Monday night, though. Aaron Boone, who decided to demote him, still thinks Williams is getting better.

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Boone said:

"I think overall that next level of fastball command to where he's commanding the fastball how he wants to. You gotta be in good counts generally speaking. Strike one's great, yes, but overall, your body of work, it's tough to be really effective if you're behind in the count."

Boone went on:

"I think the stuff is there. I don't feel like he's getting hit real hard. Last night's a case of the two walks hurt him. That's what's hurt him more than he doesn't have the stuff and they're just battering him around the field. That's not happening. Hopefully, we can continue to stack momentum and get to a point, boom, now he's flying."

The normally steady Luke Weaver came in and gave up a double and a single to give the San Diego Padres a four-run eighth inning, and the Yankees couldn't score again to get the win.

Williams walked Tyler Wade and Luis Arraez in the inning. He also gave up a single to Tyler Lockwood, but to Boone's credit, it was a 76 miles per hour batted ball.

Devin Williams explains tough outing

There were two separate rain delays on Monday night between the New York Yankees and San Diego Padres, so it was a very wet evening. That may have harmed Devin Williams.

The former closer had been putting together a few good outings, but he blew up in the eighth and yielded three earned runs. He felt that the mound was wet enough to give him trouble.

He said, via MLB:

“It’s one of those nights where you’re not only battling the hitter, I was battling the mound. So we’re all given the same set of circumstances, and I couldn’t pull through tonight.”

Despite the tough loss, Aaron Boone still believes Williams can and will be a dominant reliever for them soon.

About the author

Zachary is a journalist covering NFL, Professional Golf, esports, and Major League Baseball at Sportskeeda. He has a degree in writing/editing from Southern Adventist University (USA), and in his spare time, he likes to play games such as Minecraft, Pokémon and Fortnite, or watch sports.

Ever since he was a youth football wide receiver, Zachary has been an avid NFL fan. He loves the Carolina Panthers, with Cam Newton being his all-time favorite player (with respect to the close second, Steve Smith). If you ever meet Zachary, prepare to hear all about how underrated Newton was and how he single-handedly dragged the Panthers to Super Bowl 50.

Zachary is also a big fan of top golfers like Tiger Woods, Wyndham Clark, and Scottie Scheffler. He enjoys watching them and hopes that Woods can return to form soon and win again.

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Edited by Rajdeep Barman