Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Yankee Stadium Reacts in Three Words as Devin Williams Struggles Again

"We want Weaver"

Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The Bronx doesn’t do patience. And on Friday night, Yankee Stadium’s famously unforgiving crowd made that abundantly clear.

Devin Williams, just a few weeks back, viewed as the final piece of a dominant Yankees bullpen, was booed off the mound after a brutal ninth-inning meltdown in a 4-2 loss to the Blue Jays. The closer failed to record a single out, giving up a single, hitting a batter, and surrendering a crushing two-run double, his first official blown save in pinstripes.

"We want Weaver" chants can be heard at Yankee Stadium as Devin Williams hits a batter. 2 on, no out in the 9th. #Yankees
— Gary Phillips (@GaryHPhillips) April 26, 2025

The numbers don’t lie. After just 10 appearances this season, Williams owns an eye-popping 11.25 ERA and has allowed seven runs in his last three innings. And while the Yankees are still above .500 at 15-11, they realistically can’t be blowing good starts from the second, and presumably weaker half of their rotation. Especially not the closer, who was one of their most prized offseason acquisitions.

Given a one-run cushion heading into the ninth, Williams fell behind in counts to every batter he faced. He walked George Springer, hit Andrés Giménez, then served up a fat changeup to Alejandro Kirk, who smoked it over Trent Grisham’s head in center for a two-run double that flipped the game and emptied the stands of goodwill.

ALSO READ: Aaron Judge Stands by Devin Williams After Yankees Closer Implodes in the Ninth

“I still believe in myself,” Williams said postgame. “I believe in my ability to go out there and shut it down, so I’m just going to keep working.”

That work might now come in lower-leverage spots. For the first time all season, manager Aaron Boone wouldn’t confirm that Williams is still the team’s closer. “We’ll see,” Boone said. “This is raw right now.”

Devin Williams Last 2 Seasons

2025:
8 IP, 44 Batters, 12 R, 12 H

2024:
21.2 IP, 88 Batters, 3 R, 10 H
— Katie Sharp (@SharpStats17) April 26, 2025

Fans in the Bronx didn’t wait to process their emotions. Chants of “We want Weaver!” echoed around the stadium almost immediately after Springer’s single, a not-so-subtle call for setup man Luke Weaver, who has yet to allow a run in 11 outings this season.

The Yankees traded for Williams, 30, in December, with the idea that he’d be their lockdown closer and replace Clay Holmes, who’s now a starting pitcher in Queens. Devin Williams arrived with an elite resume: two-time All-Star, former NL Reliever of the Year, and owner of one of the nastiest changeups in baseball.

But it hasn’t translated to New York just yet. He’s pitched just two clean innings all year and looks nothing like the dominant force he was in Milwaukee.

ALSO READ: Even in a Home Run Slump, Aaron Judge Is Doing MVP Things

The Yankees still believe the bullpen can be a strength, especially with Weaver emerging and reinforcements likely coming later this summer. But in the present, there’s a problem at the end of games, and Devin Williams is right in the middle of it.

Devin Williams

Luke Weaver

Yankees

Mohsin Baldiwala

mlb

Mohsin Baldiwala is a Master’s student in Journalism and freelance content producer who got hooked on baseball through Seinfeld’s hapless George Costanza. The same reason why he’s a Yankees fan. He writes about sports because he believes it can offer a brief escape from the world’s chaos. Even if that means enduring the heartbreak of the 2024 World Series.