Yankees’ bullpen struggles leave team searching for consistency, key relievers to emerge

“I like where Bednar is getting to in his last couple outings,” Boone said. “Timmy Hill is throwing the ball really well. [Brent] Headrick’s throwing the ball well. And all of them, in different spurts, have been key elements in some important, winning, low-scoring games.”

Indeed, the left-handers Hill (1.00 ERA through nine appearances) and Headrick (1.74 ERA through 12 appearances) have been bright spots for the Yankee bullpen.

So has right-hander Fernando Cruz, who entered Friday with a 2.45 ERA.

“I do feel like Camilo, even though he got nicked by the homer off of [Mike] Trout [in Monday’s 11-10 win], is throwing the ball really well,” Boone said. “He’s in the strike zone. Trout is probably the one guy that hits that slider he threw to him out [of the ballpark].”

But as a whole, the results haven’t been there, as the Yankees began Friday with four blown saves, tied for the fourth most in the American League.

That’s why changes could be coming.

When Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón, both rehabbing from elbow operations, return to the big-league rotation in the coming weeks, the Yankees could have a surplus of starting pitching.

That would allow them to slide pitchers such as Will Warren and/or the hard-throwing David Weathers into relief roles.

The Yankees also have a flame-throwing prospect in Carlos Lagrange at Triple-A, and his 103-mph fastball would presumably play well out of the pen. But the Yankees likely want Lagrange to continue to build up his innings as a starter before they consider promoting him as a reliever, meaning he would be more of a second-half solution.

There’s also the Aug. 3 trade deadline, a point in the season in which the Yankees often add relievers, as evidenced by last summer’s acquisitions of Bednar, Doval and Bird.

But the Yankees need to get more out of their current relief corps before then, especially now that their offense has shaken off an early-season slumber.

“The pitching kind of carried us the first 10 days, two weeks of the season,” Boone said. “We’ve got to get all that synced up, though. I know we’ll hit our stride, and feel good about where we’re going to go, and we’re doing some of the right things. But we’ve got to put it together now.”