Devin Williams' first Yankees save after Luke Weaver injury went down to the thinnest wire

Hot take? Hottest take? Newly minted Yankees re-closer Devin Williams didn't look bad on Tuesday. In fact, he looked in control. He just ... well, he nearly got Guardians'd to death before he finished things off in the series opener.

This didn't look like Williams' early-season struggles, prior to the Yankees pressing the Emergency Luke Weaver Button. He wasn't behind in every count. He wasn't dazed. He wasn't flipping the changeup somewhere in the general vicinity of the plate, hoping that landing one fastball would be enough.

Instead, he retired the first batter and quickly got ahead in the count on Carlos Santana. Unfortunately, that's where Santana remembered that there's no changeup he can't flip and no fastball he can't swat. He also remembered he had a hitting streak going, sometime around the moment Michael Kay noted on the broadcast that his hitting streak might end (thanks, man). Santana worked a nine-pitch at-bat and smoked the ninth - a 94 MPH fastball six inches above the zone - into the gap.

No matter (Eds. Note: Some matter). Williams worked Gabriel Arias with changeups, at which point the only man he had left to retire was lefty pinch-hitter Daniel Schneeman. Away ... away ... away ... and on the 2-1 pitch, he leaked inside, and Schneeman poked a grounder through the right side.

Impressed? Hardly. But still, the same mission that nearly every team seemed to accomplish against Williams in the season's first month had been accomplished again. Things were sweaty. The lead was nearly gone. Shortly thereafter, Schneeman was on second with the tying run, and Bo Naylor was taking a harsh hack at a high leaking changeup, arguably the only bad one Williams threw.

Yankees' Devin Williams closed out Cleveland Guardians in first post-Luke Weaver save (but just barely)

But then? Unlike April, there was sweet relief. Williams, re-entering the role he abdicated in favor of Weaver's calm and clarity and pitching for the third time in four days, needed exactly what he got: a Naylor chip shot to Cody Bellinger for the third out.

Will Williams provide an earlier exhale next time? Hopefully. The Red Sox are coming. But, while this one went down to the thinnest wire shavings before getting all tied up, a completed save to begin the homestand should be huge for Williams' confidence. This one game won't dictate the next six weeks of tight ninth innings, but ... well, it might've if it had gone the other way. You'll take the closure, and you'll take the poise Williams showed throughout this particular battle, which he rarely seemed to display before Weaver relieved him.

The injured Weaver, try as he might, won't be back soon enough. The bullpen is one zen master short. But if the Yankees get a version of Williams who remembers what it's like to thrill a home crowd, they might just be alright after all. But you'll sweat. Oh, you'll sweat. Even when it works.