Yankees’ new-look bullpen still hasn’t lived up to lofty goals

Three weeks ago, Aaron Boone said, “Shortening the game’s been a little bit of a challenge for us over the last month and a half with some of the injuries we’ve had.”

That was the day the Yankees added David Bednar, Camilo Doval and Jake Bird to a roughed-up bullpen, with the idea being they would use a strong bullpen crew to challenge for a division title and into the postseason.

The results from the pen since the trade deadline, though, have been disappointing — including in Thursday’s loss to Boston, when Doval’s struggles continued as he tries to adjust to pitching earlier in games.

Bednar has been mostly solid since arriving from Pittsburgh, but Doval has gotten off to a brutal start in The Bronx after coming over from San Francisco, while Bird was so bad he was quickly jettisoned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

“We have been a little inconsistent down there,” Boone said Friday. “We’re just trying to get those guys in the best roles possible. I’ve got to do a better job of that [and] we’ve got to do a better job of that. I feel like we have the talent and guys down there to still be very dynamic.”

They haven’t looked the part.

Doval was shaky again Thursday when he gave up the tying run while pitching the sixth inning — something he didn’t do often with the Giants.

Boone said he spoke to Doval on Friday about being ready to pitch at different points of the game.

Coupled with Devin Williams’ continued shakiness since being traded from Milwaukee during the offseason, what was expected to be a massive strength for the Yankees has not developed into one.

Mark Leiter Jr. has been inconsistent and Jonathan Loáisiga and Fernando Cruz have been impacted by injuries.

Bednar, like Boone, is confident the pen can still live up to its lofty goals.

“Absolutely,” Bednar said. “Without a doubt. You look at the group and arms we have, it’s incredibly talented guys that can get outs any time during the game.”

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As for their unwelcome early returns, Bednar said, “You can chalk that up to baseball. There’s always gonna be adjustments when guys go to a new team. Stuff happens and it’s about how you move on and bounce back.”

The Yankees have just over five weeks to get that done and Boone acknowledged the new pitchers would have to figure out what they needed to do.

“Some guys are used to closing games and are falling into some different roles,” Boone said. “That’s part of it, though. We’re in playoff position and fighting for a playoff spot. We’re down the stretch now. They’re all important outs, whether you get the fifth [inning], seventh or ninth. They all feel like high-leverage moments. You’ve got to make sure you get that done. … This is an all-hands-on-deck situation.”

And the manager remained firm that they would get it going before it’s too late.

“I do [believe that],” Boone said. “We’ve got to get there. We’ve got to get everyone clicking, but I certainly feel we’ve got the pieces and talent back there to do that. That is my hope. My hope is that it comes together at the right time here down the stretch and what we hope is October baseball.”