The Yankees had just three hits on Saturday, but entered the ninth inning against the Orioles tied 3-3 and feeling confident with their closer on the mound.
Minutes later, yet another Aroldis Chapman meltdown gave the Orioles a 4-3 lead, and the Yankees went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning to snap their winning streak at two.
Maybe not quite a meltdown – the Orioles scored a run on a strikeout/wild pitch, single, walk, and sac fly – but the fact remains that Chapman, who had 0.00 ERA and 37 strikeouts in 18 innings in his first 18 outings, has a 7.04 ERA in 23 innings since he was touched up for four runs on June 10.
Perhaps part of the reason? His fastball has lost velocity at times, and consistency at others.
“Definitely some bad moments, and fighting to be able to overcome them. Every day I’m out there practicing and looking for that consistency," Chapman said through Yankees team translator Marlon Abreu after the loss. "You’re trying to be as consistent as you can from one pitch to the next. The goal is to keep improving every day; you keep working at it, and keep looking and trying to find that consistency.”
Much of that came in one rough stretch for Chapman, where he allowed nine earned runs in just 1 1/3 innings over three appearances on June 23, June 30, and July 4. However, while he hasn’t allowed more than one earned run in any outing since, he hasn’t been the same consistent Chapman – and Boone even noticed today his closer’s Jekyll-and-Hyde mentality.
“I thought he finished the inning pretty well actually, he was able to rein in his heater there,” Boone said. “The strikeout to start the inning and the wild pitch hurt, then Hays dumped one in and he walked a guy. But it was encouraging to see him after that walk where I thought he was losing the strike zone and then even with the next guy where he got maybe behind in the count, I thought he caught himself and corrected and executed some pitches there to finish the inning, which was good to see.”
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Chapman likely won’t pitch Sunday if Boone can avoid him, as he has worked two days in a row, but make no mistake: the fireballer is still the Yankees’ closer.
"We’ve seen it; after the month-long struggle, overall, it’s been pretty good since then. Obviously, some of the corrections we feel like have taken hold,” Boone said. “Before today, I thought his previous two outings but not only strong but really efficient as well, and then today when it started to get a little wobbly there, I felt like he was able to corral it. That’s important moving forward, as well.”
Chapman is ready for the challenge, and he knows he just has to keep working to find his rhythm.
“I can tell you this: I enjoy what I do. I enjoy playing baseball and enjoy my job as a closer,” Chapman said. “For me, the preparation is key. I have to prepare and work hard at it, and like I’ve been saying, that’s what you have to focus on. You have to focus on your job, the passion of the game, and you have to keep grinding at it.”
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And his fastball, he knows, will be there.
“I’ve never lost confidence in my fastball, but sometimes, you find yourself trying to execute and throw strikes, and if you’re better that day with other pitches, you have to be able to attack and get strikes,” Chapman said. “You have to be able to make adjustments, so that’s why sometimes you see more breaking pitches, but there’s never any doubt in my fastball.”
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