DELL & BACK!
Betances & new pen close out Sale and Sox after Chapman demoted
Dellin Betances (l.) earns save in place of Aroldis Chapman and Gary Sanchez (r.) throws out runner at second in ninth of Yanks’ 4-3 win.
Revamped relief corps helps Yanks save face
BOSTON — In his bones Joe Girardi knew it would come down to another tension-packed ninth inning. Not just because the Yankees and Red Sox have played so many games like this in 2017, but because he’d made the decision earlier in the day to pull Aroldis Chapman from the closer’s role.
So, yes, of course the new closer would be asked to deliver immediately in the toughest of circumstances, protecting a one-run lead in Fenway Park.
One small matter, though: When the game began nobody in a Yankee uniform, from Girardi to David Robertson to Dellin Betances, knew exactly who would be doing the closing.
“I assumed it was going to be Robertson,’’ Betances said with a smile. “Then when he got up to come in (in the seventh inning), I figured it was me.”
As it turned out, the Yankees needed both of them to come up big, Robertson getting four outs to get to the ninth, and escaping a bases-loaded eighth along the way, and Betances getting the final three to nail down a gutsy 4-3 win that again puts some heat on the Red Sox in the division race.
Something about these Yankees makes you think they’re going to push this race to the wire. They keep bouncing back from tough losses against these Red Sox, and they’ve now won three of the four games Chris Sale has started against them this season — the fourth being the one Chapman blew last Sunday night in the Bronx.
That was the start of a rough week for Chapman, one that finally left Girardi almost no choice but to get him out of the closer role, especially against a Red Sox team that has owned him this season.
In truth, it was obvious Chapman’s confidence was shot last Tuesday when he came out throwing almost nothing but sliders against the Mets, no longer trusting his once-intimidating fastball.
Girardi should have used Chapman’s hamstring tightness as an excuse to give him a break through this Red Sox series, but he had to see it for himself one more time on Friday night to believe the guy needs fixing.
“I just wasn’t quite ready to make the decision,’’ Girardi said. “When you think about what this guy has done over the last, what, seven years? It’s been really special.”
On Saturday he talked to Chapman about it and announced the decision: He’ll use the lefthander in a setup role and basically choose between Robertson and Betances as his closer on a daily basis.
In fact, the manager said he wasn’t sure even when the game began on Saturday which way he’d go, noting the key factor was, due to their recent workloads, Robertson being the only one of the two available to get more than three outs.
“So I was just going to kind of see how the game set up,’’ Girardi said, “and go from there.”
Both Robertson and Betances said they’re fine with doing it this way, giving no indication they have any ego about when they pitch. Robertson has more status as a proven closer for both the Yankees and the White Sox, but it can’t hurt that he’s cashed in already, and is now on the third year of his four-year, $46 million contract.
“I don’t have an issue with pitching whenever,’’ he said. “If it’s the fifth, sixth inning, those can be the most important innings. I like to be where the action is.”
Betances echoed those thoughts, saying it’s the mentality everyone has adopted since Brian Cashman loaded up the bullpen with his trade for Robertson and Tommy Kahnle a month ago.
“I just want to win,” Betances said. “Whenever my name is called, I’ll be ready to pitch.”
The Yankees are fortunate that both Betances and Robertson are accomplished enough that Chapman’s mysterious ineffectiveness doesn’t necessarily derail their chances of overtaking the Red Sox and winning the AL East.
Girardi is hoping that pitching without the pressure of closing will allow him to relax, regain some confidence, and throw his 100-mph fastball with better command.
“When we get him going,” the manager said, “there’s a good chance I’ll use him back in the closer’s role. That’s the thought process. But we might find something that works so well, we’ll want to keep it.”
In other words, Girardi is making no promises to his $86 million closer. Chapman, for his part, said through an interpreter that he understand the situation.
“I’m here to pitch whenever they need me,’’ he said.
He did pledge to get back to “being the same Chapman I’ve always been,’’ and if that happens, well, Betances made a point of saying he’ll be happy to step aside again.
“He’ll be back out there,’’ he said. “And I’ll say this: we need Chapman if we’re going to be champions.”
That may be true. But for now this is the right way to go: closer-by-tandem, if you will. It’s a bit unorthodox these day but if Betances and Robertson are ok with it, as seems to be the case, it should work just fine.