Betances: ’17 failures key to ’18 success

BOSTON — Dellin Betances listed some of his career highlights on Thursday, like being at Fenway Park for Derek Jeter’s final game or Yankee Stadium when Mariano Rivera pitched for the last time.

But at the top, now, is what Betances did in Wednesday’s wild-card victory over the A’s in The Bronx.

The right-hander, who was a mess down the stretch and through much of the playoffs last year, delivered six critical outs in the win that propelled the Yankees into the ALDS, where they’ll face the Red Sox beginning Friday at Fenway.

“Probably, at this point, that’s probably one of the biggest highlights of my career,’’ Betances said of retiring all six batters he faced after he relieved Luis Severino with runners on first and second, no one out and the Yankees up by just two runs.

He prevented those runners from scoring and then tossed a perfect sixth before the Yankee offense erupted for four runs in the bottom of the inning.

“Obviously, [Wednesday] night was either win or go home, and I wasn’t ready to go home yet,’’ Betances said. “I learned a lot last year watching Chad Green come into the situation and get out of it, and kind of give our team a … chance to come back and score some runs.’’

Green bailed out Severino in last year’s wild-card game after the ace gave up three runs in a third of an inning and had runners on second and third. Green kept the deficit at three, and the Yankees tied the game in the bottom of the inning and went on to beat the Twins.

Betances also talked to David Robertson, who pitched 3 ¹/₃ innings in last year’s wild-card win, which the right-hander said prepared him for what was in store Wednesday.

It’s a far cry from where Betances was at this point in 2017, when Joe Girardi couldn’t trust him in close games because of prolonged command issues.

“Obviously last year I was more of a cheerleader,’’ Betances said. “And this year I got a chance to come in early in the game, and I was just fortunate enough to go in a good situation and get the job done. But I’ve been waiting for that time for a long time now.”

Betances also credited Aaron Boone for alerting him to the possibility he could be used early in the game so he wasn’t caught off guard when his name was called.

“To go out [Wednesday] night and kind of be the first man out of the pen in a huge situation — and come in and just be on point and dominate — is hopefully something that will be a little springboard for him into this postseason,’’ Boone said.