Taxed bullpen collapses late as Yankees drop walk-off heartbreaker to Rays

But the Yankees’ five-game winning streak ultimately came to an end because of the bottom of the ninth, when Williams was handed an 8-4 lead and squandered it on a mix of soft contact, a walk to the No. 9 hitter and not enough help behind him. 

“Four-run lead, you’d like to get in and get out,” Williams said. “Made some good pitches, made some bad ones. Not enough good ones today.” 

Williams, who converted a six-pitch save in Thursday’s win against the Rays (9-12) and had been throwing the ball better of late, has given up nine runs (eight earned) in his first nine appearances (eight innings) with the Yankees (13-8). 

Devin Williams, pictured on April 17, struggled on Saturday.

“We went out and got him for a reason,” said Aaron Judge, who went 3-for-5 with three RBIs. “He’s the best closer in the game. We got a long season. This guy’s going to save a lot of ballgames for us and help us out. I’m not worried at all. He knows what he needs to do. He’ll go out there, figure it out. Everybody in this room, we want him coming out of the bullpen, especially in a tight game.” 

The Rays’ ninth-inning rally started with one out, when José Caballero reached on an infield single to third base and took second on Oswaldo Cabrera’s high throw to first.

Williams then hurt himself by walking Ben Rortvedt on five pitches, turning the order over to Chandler Simpson, who in his MLB debut poked a ground-rule double down the left field line to score one run. 

Yandy Díaz came up next and hit a soft chopper to shortstop for another infield single that made it 8-6. 

Carlos Carrasco of the New York Yankees pitches against the Tampa Bay Rays during the second inning at George M. Steinbrenner Field on April 19, 2025 in Tampa, Florida.

After Díaz stole second on the first pitch to Brandon Lowe, Lowe delivered a bloop single to center that scored two runs to tie the game at eight. 

“I thought those were some close pitches to [Rortvedt],” Williams said. “Really, just the changeup to Lowe, I’d like to have that one back. Tough luck on that double down the line, but aside from that I thought I threw the ball pretty well.” 

With traffic on the bases Saturday, Williams could have used some of the swing-and-miss that had been a big part of his success with the Brewers.

But it has not been there early on this season, with both his whiff rate and strikeout rate down, particularly on his trademark changeup. 

Ian Hamilton (71) delivers a pitch on Saturday afternoon.

“I don’t know [why],” Williams said. “Maybe using it too much, to be honest with you. We’ll work on that.” 

“I mean, it is one game. It’s over,” he added. “I know we have another game [Sunday]. That’s really all there is to it.” 

After Carlos Carrasco lasted just four-plus innings, Ian Hamilton (two innings), Mark Leiter Jr. and Luke Weaver combined to toss four shutout innings to preserve a 6-4 lead. 

Trent Grisham celebrates in the dugout after going yard.

New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge, left, talks with Tampa Bay Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe during the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, April 19, 2025, in Tampa, Fla.

Judge and Paul Goldschmidt then added RBI singles in the top of the ninth to make it 8-4, which gave Williams some more breathing room in the bottom of the frame, though it still was not enough. 

“Obviously, a tough one,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Lot of good things to get near the finish line and then didn’t bounce our way there in the ninth. Tough one. Those are going to happen. Dust ourselves off and get ready to try to finish a good series [Sunday].”