Joe Girardi admittedly was “shocked” when All-Star set-up stud Dellin Betances surrendered a game-tying homer Sunday.
Betances said he was something else.
“I was [ticked] that I gave up the lead. That’s what went through my mind,” said Betances whose up-and-in fastball to Reds All-Star Todd Frazier went up-and-out in the eighth inning at Yankee Stadium, tyingmatters at 2-2.
But Betances was something other than ornery at that moment. He was also confident his Yankees teammates would rally.
“It was definitely frustrating but I had faith our team would come back. They always seem to come back every time I give up a lead,” said Betances who proved to be prophetic as the Yankees emerged with a 3-2, final-at-bat victory to complete a sweep of the Reds.
So you had shock, anger, frustration, faith, prophesy. Sounds more like a White House press conference.
Frazier’s homer, his 20th of the season, was only the second given up this season by Betances who was touched by the Pirates’ Starling Marte on May 17 in a 7-1 Yankees win. No real damage there. Frazier’s homer also snapped an 0-of-24 streak by righties against Betances, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
It could have been worse for Betances who worked 1 ¹/₃ innings and had yielded just two earned runs in his previous 14 appearances, totaling 19 ²/₃ innings. Just before Frazier’s homer, Skip Schumaker had singled, but broke too soon on a steal attempt, was easily caught by Betances and tagged out in a rundown.
“Shocking,” Girardi said of Frazier’s homer. “We were all a little bit shocked when it happened. Just goes to show you that he’s human. … Frazier put a great at-bat on him. And I don’t even think he hit a strike. That’s the amazing thing.”
Yeah, Betances thought the same — at least on the strike thing. He didn’t feel too amazed. He still was working out that ticked-off stuff.
“That pitch was up and he just caught barrel on it,” said Betances, who was bummed Hiroki Kuroda was denied the win, despite allowing no earned runs in 6 ²/₃ innings. “If I made a better pitch, maybe if I go away. I don’t want to leave a pitch up because it’s easier for them to take advantage.
“It was a bad pitch from me. It would have been ball four. … He’s obviously a good hitter, but I feel like he guessed on that pitch because it was up and in and he just caught barrel and hit it over the wall,” Betances said. “[He’s] definitely a good hitter, but it was kind of tough to give up the lead especially after Kuroda, the way he pitched, but I had faith that we were going to come back and win.”