THIS OCTOBER, DELLIN IS A GOOD BET’
Betances struts his stuff in dominant outing
FROM mop-up to moonwalk.
Yes, one year’s time has been very kind to Dellin Betances — and the Yankees. Are you ready for the first Yankees-Red Sox postseason series since 2004? It’s happening, by virtue of the Yankees’ 7-2 defeat of the A’s Wednesday night in the American League wild-card game. Game 1 of the AL Division Series, the rivalry revved up, will be Friday night at Fenway Park.
The Yankees survived the loser-goes-home affair against the dangerous A’s because starting pitcher Luis Severino rewarded Aaron Boone for his faith with four-plus tightrope-walking innings and Aaron Judge guided the offense with a first-inning, two-run homer and sixth-inning double.
And because Betances, who had worked his way down to last man out of the bullpen by the time the Astros eliminated the Yankees last October, became the first man out of the bullpen in this 2018 postseason. The big guy absolutely crushed it. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for a year already,” a thrilled-looking Betances said amidst a champagne-soaked Yankees clubhouse. “I was happy I got the chance to pitch in that game.”
Boone, having aced his postseason managerial debut, didn’t hesitate when asked why he felt so comfortable going to Betances in such an early and risky situation. “Because Dellin is a stud,” Boone said. Boone went to Betances with A’s on first and second and none out in the fifth — Betances’ earliest entry point since May 23, 2014 — and the Yankees owning a slight, 2-0 lead and No. 2 hitter Matt Chapman up. “We wanted Dellin for that part of the order,” Boone said. “So I was willing to go to him, obviously, as early as we were.”
“With the energy that was out there, I felt like I was closing the game,” Betances said, and no snarky comments, please, about Betances’ past travails as a closer. He retired Chapman on a liner to right field and Jed Lowrie on a pop fly to center field, and when he struck out powerful designated hitter Khris Davis to escape the tense fifth, he pumped his pitching arm in triumph and danced a few steps backward — a moonwalk, sort of — toward the Yankees’ dugout.
“I don’t know,” Betances said, when asked to describe his post-strikeout trotting. “I was pumped, obviously pitching in that atmosphere, in that situation, to get out of that. That was huge for me there.”
That he followed that up with three more outs in the sixth — and that the Yankees opened the game up with four runs in the bottom of the sixth — made the situation even sweeter. He was credited as the game’s winning pitcher. “Dellin, he’s nasty,” Severino said. His teammate’s rescue job, the Yankees’ starting pitcher added, “was amazing.”
Who had Betances registering the Yankees’ 2018 first postseason victory on, say, Halloween of last year? Or April Fools Day of this year? As this season lifted off, Betances looked like he carried a hangover from last year’s disastrous postseason, when he lost Joe Girardi’s trust by walking five batters in four innings. His only two outings in the 2017 AL Championship Series came during garbage time. Then, under his new manager Boone, he tallied a 4.91 ERA in this season’s first month.
Boone maintained his faith in the four-time All-Star, however, and just as important, a wealth of bullpen options and a rampaging Yankees offense empowered Boone to lighten up, relatively speaking, on Betances. His 66 2/3 regular-season innings represented his secondlightest workload since he established himself in 2014; he registered 59 2/3 innings last season when he faltered late, foreshadowing his playoff struggles. His 2.70 ERA and 4.42 strikeouts-perwalk put this year among his best and reversed his downward trend of recent seasons.
Now Betances is ready to keep dominating up at Fenway. “It’s amazing,” he said of the ALDS. “We played them [19] times this year. We’re familiar with each other. It’s going to be a tremendous series. We’re excited.”
The dominating and dancing Betances can do, the more exciting this Yankees postseason will become.