Devin Williams’ debut season with the New York Yankees has already been rocky — and Saturday’s outing made things significantly worse.
The Yankees held an 8-4 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth against the Tampa Bay Rays, and Williams was brought in to close it out. Things started well with a leadoff out against Kameron Misner, but the inning quickly unraveled. The next five Rays batters reached base: Jose Caballero legged out an infield single, Ben Rortvedt drew a walk, Chandler Simpson delivered an RBI double, and Yandy Díaz followed with an RBI infield single to bring the score to 8-6. Taylor Walls came in as a pinch runner for Díaz and promptly stole second, setting the stage for Brandon Lowe, who tied the game with a clutch two-run single.
Williams managed to escape further damage by inducing a double play from Junior Caminero. However, after the Yankees failed to plate a run in the top of the 10th, the Rays ended it with a walk-off two-run homer by Jonathan Aranda in the bottom half.
Heading into Saturday, Williams had a 5.14 ERA and 1.86 WHIP in 2025 — numbers that ballooned to a 9.00 ERA and 2.25 WHIP after the disastrous appearance. While early-season stats can often be misleading for relievers, the drop-off is striking when compared to last year. In all of 2024, Williams gave up just three earned runs and 10 hits over 21.2 innings. In just eight innings this year, he’s already surrendered eight earned runs and 11 hits, raising serious concerns about his performance and reliability in the Yankees’ bullpen.
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