Aaron Boone made incredibly smart Devin Williams move despite Yankees' loss to O's

Yankees fans were hoping the team would ride its Sunday momentum into Monday against a struggling Orioles team, but quickly had those positive vibes deflated. New York lost a close 4-3 matchup in the series opener even though it felt like the game was long gone after Will Warren was pulled through just 3 1/3 innings.

The offense battled back despite trailing 4-0, but couldn't come through in the eighth when they had the game-tying run in scoring position with just one out. Jasson Dominguez struck out on a check swing and Oswaldo Cabrera grounded out.

In the end, the highlight of the night was Ryan O'Hearn's NSFW moment in the Orioles' dugout after belting a three-run homer off Warren.

But the Yankees made this a productive loss. Though Warren was chased early, Ryan Yarbrough delivered an additional 3 2/3 innings to save the bullpen. After him? It was Devin Williams, fresh off being demoted from the closer role.

Aaron Boone made shrewd use of the situation. He brought in Williams to simply keep the game within reach. The goal was obviously to remove Williams from the utmost of high-leverage situations so he could work on whatever was plaguing him, but he didn't need to go back to complete garbage time. Something needed to be on the line.

And the appearance was ... good! Williams logged a 1-2-3 inning against Ryan Mountcastle, Heston Kjerstad and Ramon Urias, the 5-6-7 hitters. He threw 14 total pitches, nine of which went for strikes. The changeup looked better, as it logged a strikeout and induced a soft grounder.

Yankees lose to Orioles, but Aaron Boone gives Devin Williams meaningful outing

Truthfully, we couldn't think of a better soft landing for Williams, who just spent the last three seasons (cumulatively) as arguably the best closer in the sport. He's now gotten a look a portion of a division rival's lineup when the at-bats very much mattered. And he wasn't insulted with meaningless low-leverage in the process.

Because, don't forget, this is temporary. Yankees fans might've been chanting "we want Weaver" on Friday night at the stadium, but there's absolutely no doubt everybody wants Williams at his peak powers when we reach the stretch run of the season. He was acquired to lead a top bullpen, not disappear into the background as the team tried to pinpoint other underwhelming options to succeed him.

If the Yankees were going to strike out 15 times and get a poor outing from their starter in what felt like a loss early on, fans can't get too upset with that late surge from Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells in the eighth followed by a helpful information-gathering appearance from Williams.