Luke Weaver stepped into his new role as a wild jungle cat as the Yankees got closer

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Converted to be close to the New York Yankees, Luke Weaver live out his animal instincts.

“It's like the wild jungle cat just came out of me,” he said on the Yes Network during the clubhouse celebration following Thursday night's decisive AL Division Series victory in Kansas City.

“You just feed in the energy,” he said. “I think you tell yourself that you have to be relentless, you have to be judged. I don't want to fool around and sleep at night thinking like I didn't give it my all. I was scared or shy. Just go after them straight away and move on.”

New York opens the AL Championship Series at home against Cleveland or Detroit on Monday night, seeking to reach the World Series for the first time since winning its 27th title in 2009.

The Yankees relievers didn't allow an earned run in 15 2/3 innings against the Royals. It was the third-most innings without an earned run in a postseason series, behind 18 1/3 by Minnesota against Toronto in the 1991 ALCS and 17 by the Los Angeles Dodgers against the Chicago Cubs in the 2017 NLCS.

Weaver earned all three wins against the Royals, striking out five in 4 1/3 innings while allowing two hits. His save chances are seven in seven since he replaced Clay Holmes as closer on September 6, and he has struck out 29 of 55 batters.

“We are really lucky to have him and continue to call him the unicorn,” Juan Soto said. “It’s just a cool way to call him.”

Holmes had been closer since then replaces Aroldis Chapman at the start of the 2022 seasonbut the two-time All-Star missed 13 of 43 save chances, tying the Yankees record held by Goose Gossage and Dave Righetti.

He was moved back to the reliever role and pitched five scoreless innings against Kansas City, striking out three innings and walking only one.

“It's about treating every out like it's the most important out in the game,” he said. “For me it simplifies things. You kind of perceive the whole situation – imagine a situation like this track or this batter or whatever. It’s like you have to get every batter out and this could be the hardest thing in the game.”

Holmes said it wasn't difficult to accept his new role.

“Everything didn’t go perfectly,” he said. “That doesn’t mean I still can’t get outs and be a really good pitcher. … No matter what role it is, I will be a part of it and I want to help my teammates. And I think just that mindset has kind of helped me be resilient.”

Also in relief were right-handers Tommy Kahnle, Jake Cousins ​​and Ian Hamilton, as well as left-handers Tim Hill and Tim Mayza.

“There's been talk all year about what this is going to look like, and I feel like it's moving in the right direction in the second half, especially the last month,” pitching coach Matt Blake said before the series against the Royals. “We really have five to six high-leverage options that can help us control the back end of the game maybe a little differently than we have in the past.”

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