Betances continues bullpen’s brilliance
The Yankees got three more scoreless innings out of their bullpen in Saturday’s 4-3 win over the Mets and perhaps none was more important than the one from Dellin Betances, who appears to be back in peak form.
The right-hander, who has gone through some dreadful stretches between periods of brilliance, is back to being one of the most feared relievers in the game.
Pitching with a one-run lead in the bottom of the eighth, Betances struck out all three batters he faced: Todd Frazier, Brandon Nimmo and Asdrubal Cabrera, to get the ball to Aroldis Chapman.
He’s now unscored upon in seven outings over seven innings and allowed just one hit during that stretch.
“This is probably the best I’ve felt, ever,’’ said Betances, a fourtime All-Star. “I think my fastball’s good. My breaking ball’s good.’’
Before Betances, David Robertson entered a tie game in the seventh and pitched around a leadoff double by Adrian Gonzalez to keep it 3-3.
He whiffed Kevin Plawecki, got pinch-hitter Luis Guillorme on a liner to center that Aaron Hicks ran down for the second out and then finished the inning with an Amed Rosario grounder to shortstop that Didi Gregorius made a terrific play on.
And Chapman pitched around a pair of walks in the ninth for his 17th save to extend the bullpen’s shutout streak to 15 ¹/3 innings since June 4.
“We’re just doing our job,’’ Robertson said of the pen. “Lately we’ve been getting the ball a little more, making the best of it and we keep winning games. ... Any time you get late into a game and it’s tied, obviously our lineup puts a lot of balls in the seats and you hope someone gets a good swing on one and puts one out there.”
The strategy has worked the first two games of the Subway Series, with the bullpen throwing a combined seven shutout innings.
“Obviously, the more I go out there, the better I feel,’’ Betances said. “So I’ve just got to continue to try to put up zeroes as much as I can.”
The difference, according to Betances, has been his approach.
“I think I’m going out there with a better gameplan,’’ Betances said. “I felt like early on, I probably wasn’t throwing my fastball as [well] command-wise. I think a lot of it was catching too much of the plate. At times I was throwing too many breaking balls. So I think I’m doing a better job of making my pitches. ... I’m kind of trusting everything I have and I think that’s worked to my advantage.”