David

Bednar

He struck out three and walked one. Bednar threw 27 pitches tonight after 11 on Sunday, so he’ll most likely be down on Tuesday. Fernando Cruz could be a candidate for a save then.

Bednar notched three consecutive ground outs from Travis Bazzana, Angel Martínez, and Chase DeLauter to secure a 2-1 win for the Bronx Bombers. While the 4.32 ERA is a bit unsightly, Bednar’s xERA of 2.83 and 99th percentile chase rate are signs that he’s not really close to losing the job at this point. He is walking a few more batters than he did last year and his fastball velocity is slightly down.

It’s Bednar’s second straight scoreless appearance after he gave up runs in three straight outings and five of seven. He’d actually given up runs each of the last four times he’d successfully converted saves. The back-to-back scoreless outings take a little heat off him for now. He’s 12-for-14 in his save chances on the season.

Bednar picked up his 11th save against the Blue Jays on Monday, but it wasn’t without suspense. With a two-run lead, the 31-year-old right-hander walked Ernie Clement to start the ninth inning. Jesus Sanchez promptly entered the game and hit an RBI double. Bednar then struck out two of the next three hitters before getting Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to ground out to end the game. While it was a tightrope walk, Bednar bounced back after blowing his second save against the Mets on Sunday.

Bednar allowed two singles before Tyrone Taylor crushed a curveball to left field. It’s the first time this year that Bednar has allowed more than one earned run in a game, but he has now been scored on in 10 of his 20 appearances. The Yankees probably won’t contemplate a closer switch just yet, but Bednar better not blow another opportunity in short order. Fernando Cruz is probably the fallback in the ninth at this point.

Bednar struck out back-to-back batters before Turang went deep. It’s the first homer Bednar has given up in 17 innings this year. He’s still looking quite a bit better of late than he was at the start of the year.

Bednar came into a 6-3 game with the bases loaded and one out in the eighth and struck out Corey Seager before getting Josh Jung to pop out to second. He gave up a triple and an RBI groundout in a four-run game in the ninth, but he was never in significant danger. The save was his 10th in 11 tries this year. He also pitched Sunday and threw 26 pitches tonight, so the Yankees might want to hold him out Wednesday. If so, perhaps Camilo Doval could close.

Bednar worked through some trouble for the second straight night in Texas. He was given a three-run lead to work with in the ninth for the save chance. After one quick out, an error put a runner on base before Danny Jansen tripled to bring home a run. Bednar then hit a batter, then allowed a base hit to cut the lead by one and put the tying run on second. He finally escaped with a ground-ball double play for his ninth save of the season.

Bednar was very lucky it was Joc Pederson at the plate when Jazz Chisholm Jr. booted a grounder to second with one on and no outs. The slow-footed Pederson was originally called safe with Bednar covering on the late throw, but after a very long replay, the call was reversed. Chisholm later committed what could have been his second error of the inning if not for the reversal, allowing Josh Smith to reach. Alejandro Osuna singled in a run afterwards, but Ezequiel Duran then grounded out to end the game. The save was Bednar’s eighth in nine tries.

Bednar made it look awfully easy in this one, needing just 11 pitches (eight strikes) to get Ceddanne Rafaela on a ground ball to third, Masataka Yoshida on a pop out to first and Willson Contreras on a bouncer to third. The 31-year-old hurler has been effective in the closer’s role for the Yankees this season, converting seven of his first eight save chances while posting a 3.38 ERA, 1.59 WHIP and a 13/5 K/BB ratio over 10 2/3 innings. Given the rest of the carnage around the league in the ninth inning, fantasy managers will gladly take what Bednar has provided.