After a shaky outing Thursday night, Aroldis Chapman has landed on the injured list.
The Yankees placed the closer on the 10-day IL Saturday with left elbow inflammation, though manager Aaron Boone said an MRI exam revealed “good news” and they are hopeful it will only be a brief absence.
“I think it’s just going to be a few days of no throwing and then he should be able to ramp up from there,” Boone said after the Yankees’ 5-4 win over the Mariners. “I’m hopeful on that 10th day he’s activated. Just a little bit of inflammation.”
Boone said Chapman started feeling it last weekend in Miami, where he recorded a pair of saves. The lefty then threw 30 pitches Thursday against the Mariners and struggled with his fastball command. He recorded his seventh straight save, but flirted with disaster first, allowing a walk and a single to bring the go-ahead run to the plate before getting out of it with a deep fly ball to left field.
While the Yankees called up Nick Nelson to take Chapman’s spot in the bullpen Saturday, they expect to use a combination of Zack Britton, Jonathan Loaisiga and Chad Green to close games until Chapman returns.
Loaisiga got the first shot Saturday — Britton and Green had both thrown back-to-back games — and threw a perfect ninth inning for his fourth save of the season.
When the Yankees briefly took a struggling Chapman out of the closer’s role earlier this season, they turned to Green for saves with Britton on the IL. Green has been inconsistent of late, though, allowing nine earned runs over his last 9 ²/₃ innings before Saturday.
“All guys that I feel great about handling it,” Boone said. “Obviously Britt has a ton of experience in that and Lo and Greeny we’ve seen back there now. … We’ll just kind of mix and match depending on who’s up.”
Chapman’s absence comes at a time when the Yankees, while chasing a playoff spot and playing their best baseball of the season, are already missing Gerrit Cole, Jordan Montgomery and Gary Sanchez due to COVID-19.
After a strong start to the season, Chapman went through a brutal stretch from June to early July in which he got tagged for 14 earned runs over 5 ²/₃ innings with nine walks to six strikeouts. He had begun to get his season back on track since then, though Friday’s dicey save hinted that something might be off.