Yankees’ Devin Williams breaks silence on 1st career ejection

Devin Williams’ first season with the New York Yankees is not much to write home about. It just got worse on Wednesday night, when he struggled anew on the mound during a game against the Houston Astros at Daikin Park in Houston.

Called upon to take the mound in the eighth inning and with the score tied at 4-4, Williams immediately had difficulties performing his job. He loaded up the bases and allowed a run when he issued a free pass to Taylor Trammell that resulted in Houston’s go-ahead run. Williams, along with New York manager Aaron Boone, was later ejected from the game for arguing balls and strikes.

New York tapped Camilo Doval to replace Williams, who made his first mound appearance on the mound this September, but the former San Francisco Giants closer added to the Yankees’ headaches when he surrendered an RBI single, got called for a balk with the bases loaded and threw a wild pitch that scored another run for Houston.

The game ended with New York absorbing an 8-7 loss, their second defeat in three outings.

“I mean, when you’re making good pitches, which I was, not getting those calls really changes the course of an at-bat,” Williams said in a postgame interview about what he felt was an inconsistent strike zone interpretation by home plate umpire Brian Walsh (h/t YES Network).

“Obviously, [Carlos] Correa hit the double, so I kind of had my back against the wall right away. Made some really good pitches to [Jesus] Sanchez, which he missed two in that at-bat.

“But yeah, I mean, I competed, but, you know, I don’t know, it’s just ridiculous to have the inning that I had and then for us to, you know, Jazz [Chisholm Jr.] got the bat taken out of his hands on a pitch that was a lot further from the zone than pitches I was making.”

Williams also revealed what he told Walsh before getting tossed out.

“I said I had four that you missed, and he threw me out for it. Never been ejected in my career”.

On the season, the 30-year-old Williams is 3-6 with a 5.60 ERA and 1.19 WHIP through 53.0 innings (58 games).