Fernando Cruz might have introduced himself on the nationwide stage together with his clutch Houdini act and equally epic celebration in Wild Card Recreation 2, however for the reliever’s Yankee teammates, this was nothing new.
Simply ask Paul Blackburn, Cruz’s catch accomplice, who has recognized the enthusiastic right-hander since they overlapped within the Chicago Cubs’ minor-league system a decade in the past.
Fellow reliever Tim Hill can attest to that, too.
So it got here as no shock on Wednesday night time when Cruz eliminated his cap, repeatedly slapped his chest, launched a guttural scream, spun and unleashed a forceful fist pump when he escaped a bases-loaded jam within the Yankees’ 4-3 win over the Boston Crimson Sox within the Bronx.
The sport was tied, 3-3, when Cruz entered with two runners on and no one out within the high of the seventh, changing Carlos Rodón.
Cruz obtained two fast outs earlier than Jazz Chisholm Jr. made a diving cease to carry Yoshida Masataka to an infield single. Cruz then obtained Trevor Story to fly out to deep middle discipline, preserving the tie intact.
“This is something I’ve been dreaming [of], that I’ve been imagining since I was a little kid,” Cruz, 35, mentioned. “The emotions are gonna come out. I’m an emotional guy. I’m passionate about what I do and I love what I do. I love doing it for my guys.”
Cruz’s escape act helped the Yankees stave off elimination and even the best-of-three Wild Card sequence at one recreation apiece. Recreation 2 remained tied till the underside of the eighth, when Jazz Chisholm Jr. scored all the way in which from first base on Austin Properly’s RBI single for the go-ahead run.
“Watching him go out there and getting out of that jam just shows you how much heart he has. He’s always going to fight,” Chisholm mentioned of Cruz, who enters video games to “Circle of Life” from Disney’s “The Lion King.”
“He might be a little lion one day. He might be a big lion one day,” Chisholm mentioned. “We go through the hard times, but at the end of the day, that’s the guy I trust going out there every time.”
The Puerto Rican-born Cruz, a childhood Yankee fan, didn’t make his MLB debut till 2022 with the Cincinnati Reds, when he was 32 years previous.
When the Yankees acquired the right-hander in an offseason commerce that despatched catcher Jose Trevino to Cincinnati, they believed they may get extra out of Cruz, who had a 4.86 ERA final 12 months however boasted an elite strikeout charge, thanks largely to a devastating splitter.
Cruz pitched to a 3.56 ERA with 72 strikeouts in 48 innings this 12 months, usually working because the Yankees’ “fireman” to get them out of all kinds of sweaty conditions.
None had been greater than Wednesday night time’s.
“I can’t tell you how excited he is to put this uniform on every single day and what a privilege it is for him,” supervisor Aaron Boone mentioned. “He exudes that all of the time. There’s a passion that he does his job with, and it spilled over a little bit tonight.”
And his teammates like it.
“He’s a guy you want on your team, for sure,” Blackburn mentioned. “He’s a guy down there that has the same energy every single day. He’s always rooting for everybody no matter who it is or what situation it is. I think the best way to put it is that he’s just authentic.”
Initially Revealed: October 2, 2025 at 10:32 AM EDT
