It felt more like the Red Sox in October than the Tigers in August, that’s how jacked the Yankees and the Stadium were throughout the final four innings of Friday’s wild 7-5 victory over Detroit.
But though Gleyber Torres continued his revival with a two-run, eighth-inning double that gave his team a 6-5 lead; Brett Gardner, Aaron Hicks and Miguel Andujar all homered off Jordan Zimmermann within 11 pitches in the sixth inning to erase a 3-0 deficit after the right-hander had spun five-and-a-third innings of no-hit ball; and Luis Severino took further strides toward regaining his first-half form with an encouraging six innings, it wasn’t all roses for the Yankees.
For once again, the bullpen had issues. Absent injured closer Aroldis Chapman, roles remain in flux and consistent effectiveness remains elusive. Thursday, Dellin Betances was unable to close with a 7-5 lead in the ninth, torched in a 31-pitch outing for a pair of homers to lose 8-7.
But then, even while brilliant as a setup man, Betances has perennially had issues as a closer. This year, he has a 0.00 ERA in the seventh inning, a 3.06 ERA in the eighth and a 4.32 ERA in the ninth. That mirrors his career performance in which he has a 1.80 ERA in the seventh, a 2.05 ERA in the eighth and a 3.87 ERA in the ninth.
So it would behoove the team to find an alternative. Like maybe Zach Britton, who was one of the best with Baltimore before he suffered an offseason Achilles injury. Or maybe not.
The Yankees called on Jonathan Holder to protect a 4-3 lead in the seventh. He departed four batters later with two down and two on, replaced by Britton. The diminished lefty, who is attempting to find his stuff and his stride in the midst of a postseason drive, promptly yielded a game-tying single. He allowed the go-ahead run in the eighth, though he was able to limit the Tigers to one run after loading the bases with none out.
Manager Aaron Boone, animatedly ejected in the fifth, said he thought Britton was making strides toward being himself, but the pitcher was having none of that.
“I can’t have the mindset where not getting results is acceptable. That’s not the way I look at it,” Britton told The Post. “I want to be good every time.
“I’m honest with myself. I know where I’m at, physically and with a different role. I feel like I’m getting better, but it’s not good enough. I can throw strikes, but I need put-away pitches, too.”
David Robertson got the call to close. The right-hander put two on with one out. Betances started to throw in the pen. But when Robertson fanned the next two batters for his fifth save in nine tries, that was that.
The Yankees had won, and there is no discounting that, but they had won messily. That was fine for Friday, but probably not the recipe for success in October.
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