Clay Holmes entered to grumbles and left the hall to ovations.
Minutes later, the Yankees celebrated another walk-off victory.
Holmes entered a tie game with a man on second base early in the 10th inning on Thursday and quickly retired two batters to give the Yankees a chance to win in the bottom half of the inning on Juan Soto’s walk-off single.
“I felt good out there,” Holmes said after the 2-1 win over the Red Sox. “Really great effort from all the guys that pitched today. … Those guys mean a lot to me, and I just want to go out there and continue to support them.”
In the week and more since he was relieved of his role as closer after his 11th blown save of the year, Holmes has pitched three times and failed to score twice – in the eighth inning of a 2-1 loss on Sunday and then on Thursday.
In the meantime, he gave up a one-run lead in the seventh inning against the Royals on Wednesday.
But the right-hander made a strong impression on Thursday, starting pitcher for the second night in a row, forcing Ceddanne Rafaela to a groundout and Jarren Duran to a flyout, both with scores 0-2.
“He wants the ball and he’s rightfully confident in what he can do out there,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Despite some things that have happened or where he’s missed some calls, I really like his attitude and his ability to handle the inevitable ups and downs.”
Holmes’ 10th inning capped a strong bullpen parade by Ian Hamilton, Tim Hill and Tommy Kahnle.
“Me and (Jose Trevino) talked about it last week: When we need Clay the most, he’s going to be there for us,” said Nestor Cortes, who started Thursday. “Whether it’s the seventh, eighth, ninth or extra innings, Clay has it all. We’ve trusted him all year.”
Aaron Judge would have ended his home run drought by a few meters on Thursday, but instead he extended it to 16 games, the highest number of his career so far.
He went 1 for 4 while being denied a hit on a dive by Rafael Devers that set up a double play.
“He has 51 home runs,” Boone said. “Home runs still come in droves, even for guys like him, and there’s always going to be periods. I guess it’s amazing he avoided those, but that’s just a testament to how good a hitter he is and how much power he has. I thought he had good at-bats tonight and almost hit one.”
The Yankees have signed left-handed reliever Anthony Misiewicz directly to the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre roster after he cleared waivers on Monday following his assignment.
