ANAHEIM, Calif. — Devin Williams returned to the ninth inning on Tuesday for a save attempt, his first since being removed from the closer’s position.
He lived to tell about it, just barely.
Tasked with maintaining a three-run advantage, Williams allowed two runs, putting the potential winning run at the plate, but ultimately secured the final out in the Yankees’ 3-2 victory over the Angels.
“You just keep going,” Williams said. “The game’s not over, we didn’t lose yet, so it’s pretty simple.
“At the end of the day, we won. That’s all that matters.”
With a runner on first and two runs scored, Williams faced pinch-hitter Logan O’Hoppe. Despite a 3-0 count, O’Hoppe swung at a fastball and popped it into foul territory, ending the game.
“I didn’t think he would be swinging there, to be honest,” Williams said. “But he kind of did me a favor.”
In his first save attempt since April 25 — the game he blew that got him removed from the closer’s job — Williams gave up a leadoff homer to Yoan Moncada and then allowed a pair of singles around the first out.
Jo Adell then hit a grounder to the hole that Anthony Volpe made a sliding stop on and threw from his knees to second, where DJ LeMahieu had to stretch to catch it and deftly kept his back foot on the bag.
A run scored on the play, but getting the out was vital.
“Not worried about [Williams],” manager Aaron Boone said. “In the end, you bend and don’t break, there’s a lot you take away from that outing. The reality is he’s throwing the ball really well. They put a couple good swings on him tonight, but that’s part of it.”
The Yankees entered Tuesday leading the majors in home runs, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, extra-base hits and walks.
And then they were tied for first in a much less appreciated stat: sacrifice flies, with 23 of them in their first 53 games.
“We want to be good situationally,” Boone said. “We want to be situationally solid and that’s one of those areas. Especially now, in the game where the strikeout is so prevalent, especially with the arms you’re consistently seeing, to be able to cash in those runs with less than two outs without getting a hit, hopefully that’s something that continues for us.”
Austin Wells delivered a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning Monday night to provide an insurance run in the Yankees’ 5-1 win over the Angels, giving him six on the year, which trailed only the Diamondbacks’ Geraldo Perdomo for the major league lead.
Cody Bellinger, who had a sacrifice fly in each of his first three games of the season — to the point that Boone told him he had the market cornered — was tied for third on Tuesday with five.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. (oblique strain) went to Double-A Somerset on Tuesday to go through a full workout, which included taking batting practice on the field.
Assuming he bounces back from that well, the infielder is expected to get into rehab games in the next few days, which would put him in line to rejoin the Yankees when they open a homestand next Tuesday.
“A chance he could be playing in a [rehab] game Thursday, but we’ll get through today and see how we want to lay out the week,” Boone said.
Gerrit Cole has joined the Yankees for the California portion of this West Coast swing, not far from his backyard in Newport Beach. … Marcus Stroman (knee inflammation) threw another bullpen session on Tuesday at Angel Stadium.
