In a gut-wrenching 5-3 defeat to the Houston Astros on Friday night, the New York Yankees watched their postseason hopes teeter on the edge, with reliever Devin Williams delivering a raw, self-lacerating verdict on his performance: “I’m not making pitches. I stink right now.” Those seven words captured the frustration of a team spiraling through a brutal stretch, now having dropped six of their last seven games.
The game, a tense extra-inning affair, saw the Yankees claw back from an early deficit to tie it at 2-2 in the sixth. But the 10th inning unraveled in catastrophic fashion for New York. Williams, already grappling with a 5.73 ERA in his first season as a Yankee, took the mound in a tie game. Disaster struck quickly: an automatic runner advanced to third on a wild pitch, and Carlos Correa promptly laced a go-ahead single. Before the dust settled, Taylor Trammell crushed a two-run homer, ballooning Houston’s lead to 5-2. Anthony Volpe’s RBI single in the bottom half offered a flicker of hope, but it wasn’t enough to salvage the night.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone, who has yanked Williams from the closer role twice this season, had little choice but to turn to him. With David Bednar, Mark Leiter Jr., and Luke Weaver sidelined by recent workloads, Boone rolled the dice on his struggling reliever. “He’s struggling,” Boone admitted postgame, “but you gotta use your guys.” The decision backfired, and Williams’ brutal honesty in the clubhouse only underscored the team’s mounting desperation.
Earlier, starter Cam Schlittler showed resilience after a rocky start. José Altuve’s two-run homer in the first inning put New York in an early hole, but Schlittler battled back, holding Houston to just those two runs over five innings despite surrendering seven hits. A highlight came in the fourth when Cody Bellinger’s laser throw from the outfield gunned down Trammell at the plate, preserving the tie and keeping the Yankees in striking distance.
Houston’s bullpen, however, proved impenetrable. Josh Hader slammed the door with a scoreless ninth, setting the stage for the Astros’ extra-inning ambush. The victory, Houston’s third in four games, shaved the Yankees’ lead for the final American League Wild Card spot to a razor-thin half-game.