NEW YORK (AP) — On the verge of blowing another ninth-inning lead, David Bednar threw George Springer a surprise splitter. And another. And another.
Having allowed an RBI double that cut the Yankees’ lead to one run, Bednar faced two on with one out when he fell behind the four-time All-Star 3-0 in the count with three straight pitches that weren’t close. Bednar rebounded by getting Springer to swing over three straight splitters that dipped below the strike zone.
Five-time All-Star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. then worked the count full before bouncing a hanging splitter to second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr., who threw to first for the out that preserved New York’s 7-6 win over the AL champion Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night.
“It’s digging deep, getting a little gritty and finding a way,” Bednar said. “Just find a way. There’s a way out of every situation.”
Not on Sunday, when Bednar gave up Tyrone Taylor’s tying, three-run homer on a hanging curveball with two outs in the ninth inning. The Yankees went on to lose 7-6 in 10 innings to the crosstown Mets, ending a deflating 2-7 trip.
“You got to get punched in the face,” Bednar said, adding the test is “how you respond from that.”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone didn’t feel a need to give a pep talk to the two-time All-Star closer.
“If I would have bumped into him, I would have said something to him,” Boone explained, “but we got a lot of grown-ups in that room and I trust they know how to handle the highs and the lows.”
Two-run homers by Cody Bellinger and Jazz Chisholm Jr. off Yariel Rodríguez — the second clanking off the left-field foul pole — had put the Yankees ahead 7-5 in the seventh inning against Toronto as they rallied from 3-1 and 5-3 deficits.
Bednar relieved to start the ninth and walked Ernie Clement, whose three-run homer and RBI grounder had helped Toronto build its leads. Pinch-hitter Jesús Sánchez followed by chopping a splitter that took a huge hop over first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and rolled into the right-field corner for an RBI double.
“Just continue foot on the gas and keep going after guys,” Bednar said.
Toronto sent two rookies to the plate at the bottom of its batting order, and Bednar struck out Brandon Valenzuela on a splitter before walking Yohendrick Piñango,
Now the top of the Blue Jays order was coming up.
“He didn’t flinch, though,” Boone said. “Just kept making pitches and obviously got two really tough customers there at the end.”
A 3-0 count in tight late-inning games with runners on usually is a time for fastballs. Most pitchers wouldn’t want to risk a walk that would load the bases.
“I’m certain on the 3-0 pitch he thought he was getting a heater, as did I,” Boone said.
Just deciding on the splitter there boosted confidence of Bednar’s Yankees teammates.
“When he threw that,” Chisholm said, “that was fire.”
Bednar threw 36 pitches, raising his total to 59 in two days and 80 in four. After the walk to Piñango, pitching coach Matt Blake went to the mound. By the time Guerrero was hitting, Boone decided Bednar would face at most one more batter after Vladdy.
“I knew I was going to be in there today, and the guys needed me to do my job,” Bednar said. “It wasn’t pretty tonight, and there’s definitely plenty of things to work on but at the end of the day it’s: Did I get it done or not?”
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