Pitching in a less stressful sixth inning designed to help boost his confidence, Devin Williams looked like a better pitcher during the Yankees’ 7-1 loss to the Astros in The Bronx.
Williams struck out the side — Chas McCormick, Jeremy Peña and Carlos Correa — on his 11 pitches (10 strikes).
His afternoon ended a streak of five straight appearances in which he had allowed at least one run.
After Williams, Brent Headrick pitched two scoreless innings in which he struck out four.
The lefty has allowed one run and struck out 14 in his past 10 innings.
A day after successfully playing right field, Giancarlo Stanton was out of the starting lineup before making a late-game cameo back in right.
Aaron Boone “flirted” with starting Stanton in the outfield two straight days, but he decided against it for a player who previously had not played the outfield in nearly two years.
With a lefty on the mound in the seventh inning, Boone pinch hit Stanton for Jasson Domínguez. Stanton singled and played right field for the final two innings without incident.
The outfield experiment continues because the DH spot is blocked. Aaron Judge can hit but cannot play the outfield yet after suffering a flexor strain, from which he is slowly building up his elbow.
Judge, who has thrown Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and was expected to throw again Sunday, is on track to appear in the outfield again “sooner rather than later,” Boone said.
“No update,” Judge said about his throwing program. “So far, so good.”
The Yankees are notoriously careful with assigning recovery timelines for Judge, and Boone declined to reveal when he can return to the outfield. By all accounts, though, Judge is getting closer.
“It’s going pretty well,” Boone said. “We’ll see.”
Ryan Yarbrough (oblique) and Fernando Cruz (oblique) were expected to throw live batting practice sessions at Somerset.
Yarbrough, who was set to approximate two innings, will be stretched out as a starter. Whether he returns as a starter or reliever is yet to be determined.
After Saturday’s Old-Timers’ Day, Clay Bellinger stuck around and threw the ceremonial first pitch to son Cody.
