Clay Holmes is finding his sinker again at a crucial moment for the New York Yankees.
Just over a month after being taken out of the closer’s role, Holmes has given up only two runs in his last 14 games. His five scoreless innings helped the Yankees eliminate the Kansas City Royals in their AL Division Series.
Now, they will face the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Championship Series.
Holmes had a record of 3-5 with a 3.14 ERA and 30 saves in 67 games. He led the majors with 13 blown saves and lost the closer position after giving up a game-ending grand slam to Texas rookie Wyatt Langford on September 3.
He had two more blown saves on September 11 and 18 against Kansas City and Seattle, but also had eight scoreless outings that helped the Yankees secure home-field advantage in the AL playoffs.
“I think for me, my confidence, my identity, who I am, what I can do is not really tied in so much to some title that is given to me,” Holmes said during a video call as the Yankees practiced.
The Yankees scored a total of 14 runs compared to the Royals’ 12 in their playoff matchup, with their relievers combining for 15 and 2/3 scoreless innings.
This is the third-most scoreless innings by a team’s relievers in postseason history, following Minnesota’s 18 and 1/3 innings in the 1991 ALCS against Toronto and the 17 innings thrown by the Los Angeles Dodgers against the Cubs in the 2017 NLCS.
“It’s fun,” Holmes said. “Obviously, we got a good group down there. We have a lot of fun. We’re pretty tight-knit. We’re all rooting for each other. To see that happen was cool. I think that’s what we’re capable of and that’s what we know we can do.”
Holmes pitched in every game of a series where each game was decided by two runs or less and got the win in the first game. In Game 3, he came in after Clarke Schmidt, stranded two runners in the fifth, and pitched 1 and 1/3 innings.
In the final game, he threw a clean eighth inning before closer Luke Weaver earned his third save of the series.
“What I continue to say, even when he went through some tough stretches, is that we’re looking at a really, really good pitcher, and that’s showing up right now,” said manager Aaron Boone.
Holmes threw his sinker 56.3% of the time during the regular season, down from 69.5% in 2023. In the last month, he threw it 67.1% of the time and allowed a .200 batting average. Against Kansas City, 41 of his 58 pitches were sinkers, and he credited his recent success to a better grip.
