Aroldis Chapman and his new pitch made their delayed regular-season debut worth the wait.
The Yankees closer, after serving a two-game suspension to begin the season, struck out the side in the ninth inning Monday night to finish off a 7-0 win over the Orioles at Yankee Stadium.
“I thought he was really good,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He really wanted to get in there. I was debating whether to even put him in there, but he wanted the ball.”
Chapman did walk a batter, but reached 101 mph with his fastball and got two of the strikeouts on his new split-change.
Before serving the two-game suspension — a result of throwing a 101 mph fastball near the head of the Rays’ Mike Brosseau last September — Chapman had last thrown during a live batting practice session on Wednesday.
“Stuff was really good,” Boone said. “I thought he had really good command. You saw the really good split, I thought he landed some really good sliders as well. Fastball was coming out strong. So, really good first outing for Chappy.”
Aroldis Chapman Robert SaboGerrit Cole is among the game’s elite pitchers, but he can still be in awe of what his fellow pitchers do — specifically one that also happens to crush the baseball.
Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani dazzled Sunday night, throwing 101 mph in the top of the first inning before blasting a home run that had an exit velocity of 115.2 mph in the bottom half.
“I’m a huge fan of Shohei Ohtani,” Cole said. “What a magnificent talent. I certainly can throw the ball as hard as him, but I can’t hit it as far as he can. And there are certainly people that can hit it as far as he can and can’t even throw it anywhere close to the way he can throw it.”
“I think [Mike] Trout came up to me one time and was like, ‘You gotta watch this guy’s [batting practice].’ I snuck out for a couple and it’s impressive. It’s impressive to all parts of the field. Pitching against him, certainly, is a tough out. I only got to see him throw once, but he was firing 93-mph [splitters], so that had me on the front of my seat as well.
Cole will take the mound again Tuesday on normal rest, slotting back in before his former Pirates teammate Jameson Taillon makes his debut on Wednesday. The Yankees lost his Opening Day start, but he still cherished it for being his first time pitching in front of fans in over a year.
“I just felt like, kind of at ease, to be honest, after the game. It was like life was normal for a few hours,” he said. “I hope it continues to go that path. But it was like revisiting a routine that I hadn’t been a part of in quite some time.”
Introduced for his first at-bat, Trey Mancini got a “welcome back,” from PA announcer Paul Olden and a round of applause from the Yankees dugout. The Orioles slugger sat out last season while battling colon cancer.







