BALTIMORE — Five days after Aaron Boone declined to ask Clay Holmes to try for a six-out save, he asked for five.
The Yankees closer answered the call.
With the Yankees clinging to a two-run lead in the eighth inning and the Orioles threatening to rally, Holmes came in and secured a dominant five-out save to finish off a 2-0 win on Wednesday night at Camden Yards.
“That’s the game right there,” Boone said. “And if the eighth inning got long and we had to go with someone else in the ninth, so be it. We’re at the top of their order, game’s on the line with a couple guys out there. You know with Clay, it’s one pitch away if he puts you on the ground properly. But yeah, I felt like that was the game there and we’ll worry about the ninth when we get there.”
Holmes began to warm at the start of the bottom of the eighth inning and watched Ian Hamilton put runners on first and second before recording the first out.
Boone then went to Holmes, with Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman due up, and he struck them out on seven pitches.
In the bottom of the ninth, Holmes allowed an infield single to lead off the inning but responded by getting a strikeout and two ground balls to record his 10th save of the year.
He has not allowed an earned run across 15 innings.
“Anytime you go in and pick up a guy like that and keep those runners on base, it was a good feeling,” Holmes said. “I feel like things keep trending in a good direction.”
The Yankees had lost in extra innings on Friday in Milwaukee, when Holmes threw a scoreless ninth inning on 10 pitches but Boone did not go back to him to protect a one-run lead in the bottom of the 10th because he did not want to use him for two innings, citing his heavy workload.
But after the Yankees dropped the first two games of this series against their division rival, Boone decided to let Holmes go the extra mile on Wednesday.
“He was really sharp,” Boone said. “Obviously Clay’s off to a great start this year and throwing the ball incredibly well. Tonight, coming in first and second there, top of their order for a five-out save, I thought his stuff was really sharp— slider and sinker had a little extra to it tonight, but also commanding it really well.”