But in Tuesday\u2019s 5-3 win over the A\u2019s<\/a>, four relievers \u2014 including Bird \u2014 combined to throw four scoreless innings after Cam Schlittler lasted just five<\/a>.<\/p>\n Questions will continue until they prove otherwise, especially with so many arms pitching in roles they\u2019re unaccustomed to.<\/p>\n Bird, Brent Headrick, Fernando Cruz and David Bednar got the Yankees to the finish line and helped them avoid losing consecutive games for the first time this season.<\/p>\n Asked before the game if the Yankees had the relievers to get the job done or whether they needed some outside help, Aaron Boone said, \u201cI hope they\u2019re there.\u201d<\/p>\n He added, \u201cI think they\u2019ve all, to some degree, pitched really effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n But Boone also acknowledged they\u2019ve \u201chad some rough games.\u201d<\/p>\n The unit, which lost Devin Williams and Luke Weaver to the Mets in free agency in the offseason, is clearly a work in progress.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like we have some good answers,\u2019\u2019 Boone said.<\/p>\n And the process of having certain pitchers emerge for different jobs is ongoing, with certain pitchers having to \u201ccarve out roles and earn roles,\u2019\u2019 according to the manager.<\/p>\n It remains to be seen if Camilo Doval can be a reliable setup man or Bednar can close games at a high level in The Bronx.<\/p>\n Bird and Headrick have yet to have much success in the majors.<\/p>\n Tuesday, they were good enough to allow what had been a quiet Yankee lineup to get itself together to ensure that a four-run bottom of the eighth was enough to deliver a victory.<\/p>\n And while they kept the A\u2019s off the board, they weren\u2019t exactly perfect.<\/p>\n Bird, who took over for Schlittler to start the sixth \u2014 instead of coming into a higher-leverage spot as he did Sunday \u2014 gave up a leadoff single to Tyler Soderstrom before striking out Brent Rooker and getting Jacob Wilson to pop out.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tGo beyond the box score with the Bombers\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Yankees by Greg Joyce, exclusively on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Boone then went to the lefty Headrick, who walked Lawrence Butler before recovering to get Max Muncy swinging.<\/p>\n Headrick survived a leadoff walk to ex-Met Jeff McNeil in the seventh with a pair of strikeouts and some help from Cruz, who finished the inning.<\/p>\n And Cruz pitched around two walks in the top of the eighth \u2014 striking out Muncy to end the inning with two runners on \u2014 to keep the Yankees deficit to two runs.<\/p>\n Then the Yankees offense finally pounced on the A\u2019s \u2014 and former Yankee Mark Leiter Jr. \u2014 in the bottom of the inning for four runs, highlighted by Amed Rosario\u2019s three-run, go-ahead homer, to give Bednar a chance to close out the game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s no telling if this new-look Yankees bullpen is good enough \u2014 at least not yet. After some…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":669932,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2376],"tags":[5,1100,4,1690,62,2548,2547,185,142],"class_list":{"0":"post-669931","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-yankees","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-david-bednar","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-yankees","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkyankees","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-yankees"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116368249217491296","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/David-Bednar.jpg\")
David Bednar celebrates with Austin Wells after closing out the Yankees\u2019 5-3 comeback win over the A\u2019s on April 7, 2026 at the Stadium. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n![\"Jake](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Jake-Bird.jpg\")
Jake Bird throws a pitch during the sixth inning of the Yankees\u2019 comeback win over the A\u2019s. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n