The Yankees’ starting rotation has tormented opponents the entire season, pitching to a league-best 2.93 ERA, and the bullpen has provided lineups with no respite once the starter leaves the mound.
Wednesday afternoon was no different for the Yankees’ bullpen. Four more scoreless innings to add to a running tally of 26 innings pitched over eight days with just two earned runs.
Besting the starters’ mark with a 2.73 ERA this season, the Yankees’ bullpen has pitched to a 1.73 ERA over the past 20 games. The 5-3 victory over the Athletics Wednesday exemplified why this bullpen has been so successful.
On a day when Michal King and Wandy Peralta were unavailable, Lugcas Luetge and Miguel Castro — the Yankees relievers with the highest ERAs — overpowered the Athletics.
“We’re just a bunch of gamers,” Luetge said. “Everyone wants to ball and nobody is scared to go out there.”
Luetge was the highlight of the pitching staff in the Yankees’ sweep-securing win. Entering in the sixth inning, Luetge pitched two perfect innings with two strikeouts to help preserve the two-run lead.
“For Lucas to come in and get the bottom of the order then and then just keep getting outs through the top was big for us,” manager Aaron Boone said. “The bullpen has been terrific.”
The left-hander has not allowed a run in 11 of his last 13 appearances. His two scoreless innings Wednesday are good for his second longest scoreless outing of the season, behind the 2 ¹/₃ innings he threw June 9 at Minnesota.
Starter Jameson Taillon, who kept the A’s off the board after allowing three runs in the first, praised the bullpen’s effort.
“Tight game, we had a couple guys probably down in the bullpen today, and it doesn’t matter who comes in,” Taillon said. “Lucas, Castro, they’re able to come in and bridge the gap and I feel like we’ve been doing that all year.”
With four more games to go until a much-needed day off, the bullpen will need to continue to grind.
“It’s big time,” Aaron Judge said. “Some of the games we haven’t got a hit through five innings, six innings. Then all of the sudden the starter comes out and you bring in a Michael King, you bring in a Castro, you bring in those guys that can just give you a couple innings.”
Castro worked around two hits to pitch a scoreless eighth inning and Clay Holmes closed things out with a perfect ninth for his 14th save of the season.
