NO RELIEF FROM THIS DELL
Betances flop Boone’s problem to fix
TORONTO — So this is what the first real adversity of the Aaron Boone era looks like: Dellin Betances unraveling on the mound yet again as Kevin Pillar pulls off the unthinkable in the eighth inning — stealing second, then third, and then home. With two outs in the frame and a 2-2 count on No. 9 hitter Gift Ngoepe, Pillar made like Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez in “The Sandlot,” dancing off third, timing Betances’ set perfectly and then making his dash for the plate.
Betances should’ve stepped off right away when he saw what Pillar was up to. He didn’t. And when he finally realized what was happening, he stepped off the mound and rushed his throw to Gary Sanchez, a bad grip sending the ball sailing to the backstop. Pillar was able to scoot home untouched, scoring a key insurance run standing up. “I saw him going and I threw it away,” Betances later admitted. “That’s a big mistake there.”
According to the YES Network, Pillar’s feat of stealing second, third and home hadn’t been done in the same inning against the Yankees since July 25, 1928 — nearly 90 years ago.
In Betances’ first two appearances of 2018, the four-time All-Star has been largely ineffective.
Boone expressed confidence in Betances after his team’s 5-3 loss to Toronto, but you wonder how much longer the first-year manager can run him out there in high-leverage situations if this type of performance continues, especially after what happened in the second half of 2017.
“We’ll continue to work with him, continue to believe in him and continue to need him in big situations,” Boone said.
The Bombers are loaded in the bullpen, with Tommy Kahnle, David Robertson and Chad Green, so Betances is going to need to pick it up — quickly. “For me, my stuff is there,” Betances said. “Whenever my name is called upon I’ll try to do the best job I can. I’ve just got to slow the game down at times, but I feel like mechanically I feel really good. Both my pitches — my fastball and breaking ball — I feel good with. Last year, the walks were what got me and this year I’m pounding the zone, so I’ve got to continue to roll with that and try to be better next time.” The problem is, his high-octane offerings are being blasted into orbit.
On Opening Day, Pillar ambushed Betances by hitting his first pitch out of the ballpark.
On Saturday, the 29-year-old flamethrower grooved a 2-0 97-mph fastball that ex-Bomber Yangervis Solarte crushed 455 feet for the goahead solo homer. Last season, Betances didn’t give up his second homer of the year until Sept. 4, according to researcher Katie Sharp.
Stolen bases have always been a bigger problem for the 6-foot-8 Betances, so much that the Bombers used it against him in their contentious arbitration hearing prior to the 2017 campaign. The Blue Jays recorded four steals in the eighth alone.
“He really owns his mechanics and his delivery, and I still believe that when he has that the rest will fall into place because he’s so difficult to hit,” Boone said. “We’ll revisit different holds and being able to throw over (to first), but I don’t want him varying his delivery right now.”
Two scouts I spoke with during the spring felt the Yankees should’ve tried to trade Betances in the offseason. “I would’ve tried to move him,” one said. “He’s so inconsistent. He doesn’t
repeat his delivery enough. He concerns me a lot of the time, he really does.”
The issue with that, though, is that the Bombers may not have been able to get enough of a return on a reliever who had been untouchable in recent years. And given that he lost his setup job late last season due to a lack of command, it would’ve been a sell-low proposition.
In Betances’ defense, too, he was in his second inning of work when it all unraveled. He had navigated a scoreless seventh thanks to Sanchez’s brilliant throw to gun down a stealing Curtis Granderson at second.
Boone explained that he would’ve gone to Green if the team was ahead, but with Adam Warren (right foot) and Jonathan Holder already used, he elected to stick with Betances — one of several relievers the Yankees feel are capable of providing multiple innings. It backfired this time, in what ended as a 40-pitch outing. In 2017, Betances got six outs just twice — once in the playoffs.
So the Bombers choice have now no but to try to get him right. But Betances’ margin for error could be slim — even with 159 games left.