The Yankees have a closer problem and manager Aaron Boone does not seem all to eager in trying to fix it.
Clay Holmes blew yet another save on Sunday night, squandering a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Detroit Tigers by allowing a double to Colt Keith and a game-tying single by Jace Jung with two outs.
In the 10th after DJ LeMahieu gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead, Holmes yielded a game-tying single to Zach McKinstry, who proceeded to steal second and then come around to score on Parker Meadows’ walk-off single.
It was Holmes’ 10th blown save of the season, becoming the first Yankee with double-digit blown saves in a single season since Dave Righetti (13) in 1987. Of those 10 games, the Yankees have gone on to lose eight of them, which plays a pivotal part in a tight American League East Division that has New York tied with the Baltimore Orioles for the top spot entering Monday night’s action.
Boone has remained loyal to Holmes and appeared to do so again, for the most part, following Sunday’ night’s loss.
“Look, we’ll see as we go. We have a lot of really good options. Clay has had some tough breaks back there that have led to [10 blown saves],” Boone said. “The reality is he’s throwing the ball really well. That said, we’ve got a lot of guys that are throwing the ball well in certain situations. Right now, Clay is the guy.”
There is something to be said about the “tough breaks” Boone referred to. Holmes’ bread and butter is generating weak contact on the ground and he has done that all season. His average exit velocity ranks in the 78th percentile while his barrel percentage is in the 89th and his groundball rate is in the 100th, per Baseball Savant.
Sunday night was a microcosm of the baseball universe working against the right-hander. Both Jung’s single in the ninth and Meadows’ game-winner in the 10th were in nearly identical spots that a correctly-positioned shortstop would have been able to get to. Instead, both trickled into the outfield.
It is on the manager, however, to work against the bad luck and Holmes’ inability to get the job done, regardless of how it happens, is something that has to be addressed sooner rather than later with World Series aspirations still in play late in the season.
