When Clay Holmes endured a few rough outings early in the season, neither he nor his manager panicked.
The Yankees reliever allowed seven earned runs over his first 10 innings while adding two losses and two blown saves. After commandeering the Yankees’ closing role last season, the stretch hardly met expectations. But Aaron Boone pointed out that a some of those appearances featured poor luck, and Holmes felt close to being the pitcher who earned his first All-Star nod with 29 straight scoreless outings last season.
“I was giving up some runs, but deep down, there was still some confidence,” Holmes said Tuesday. “I knew kind of where I was at, and that things were kind of going to turn, so it’s one of those things where it is baseball. Just being a good evaluator of kind of where you’re at is big. And I think I’ve gotten better at that throughout the years. And I knew my sinker was close. I knew my delivery was close. And it was just a matter of putting together some good outings.”
Lately, good outings have been much easier for Holmes to come by.
The right-hander hadn’t allowed a run in 18 of his last 19 games entering Wednesday while going 4-0 with a 0.47 ERA and 24 strikeouts over 19 innings. His ERA over that stretch marked the second-lowest in the majors (minimum 15 games), trailing only Miami’s Andrew Nardi (0.00 ERA in 17 games).
“Maybe the noise around it wasn’t indicative of where he was,” Boone said of early-season criticism Holmes received, “and he’s on a good roll now.”
Holmes hasn’t been exclusively reserved for the final frame, but he’s also picked up four saves. He now has a 2.48 ERA and eight saves over 29 innings this season.
One of Holmes’ best performances of the year came in the eighth inning on Tuesday, though. With the Yankees leading 7-6, he struck out Francisco Lindor and Starling Marte to escape a bases-loaded threat against the Mets. The Yankees ultimately won the game.
When asked about Holmes’ performance — on Tuesday and of late — Boone noted that the hurler has made the most of his not only his trademark sinker, but his slider as well.
“He’s been terrific of late,” Boone said. “Probably the last half-dozen outings he’s been really, really sharp using both the sinker and the slider. Both have been weapons for him. He’s gotten some big strikeouts; obviously getting Lindor and Marte there with strikeouts. Huge. But the confidence he has right now in both pitches that he can go to is really helping each pitch play up a little bit.”
Holmes agreed, adding that his sinker doesn’t have to be perfect when his slider is at its best. Holmes also feels he’s been “attacking the zone early.
“I’m never gonna be a command guy necessarily,” said Holmes, who has walked 10.6% of the batters he’s faced this season. “Definitely more movement oriented. But when I can use the slider to get into better counts for the hitters to see a little something else, I can trust the sinker movement a little more.”
Aaron Judge has been out since June 3, but the Yankees still aren’t sure when he’ll take the next steps in his recovery from a right big toe injury.
“I don’t know,” Boone said Wednesday when asked how close Judge is to doing “anything,” though the manager added that the slugger has done some modified workouts and shown an improved gait.
But nothing significant is in Judge’s immediate future as far as full workouts or baseball activities go. Once those begin, however, Boone believes Judge won’t have trouble ramping up.
“I want to know, but it is an unknown right now about when he’s able to do things,” the skipper said. “I think once that happens, it’ll happen quickly. But we’re not at that point yet. So I don’t even have a timeline for you guys, which I know you would love.”
HAMILTON AND RODON
Ian Hamilton (groin) and Carlos Rodon (back) will throw live batting practice at Double-A Somerset on Thursday, according to Boone.
Hamilton could throw another live session or get into rehab games after that. Rodon is expected to begin a rehab assignment next.