Yanks’ bullpen returns to form
It was a blip, a bump, a rare defeat attached to the Yankees’ bullpen.
On Sunday in Baltimore, the Yankees’ celebrated back end was to blame after surrendering a late lead, but Monday’s dominant bounce-back performance against the Angels made it hard to envision the acclaimed arms being culpable again anytime soon.
Andrew Miller entered a tied game — following seven innings of work from Masahiro Tanaka — and struck out the side in the eighth to pick up his third win of the season, while Aroldis Chapman responded to his first blown save of the season Sunday by picking up his 10th save in a perfect ninth inning, closing the 5-2 win at Yankee Stadium.
“We knew that we had Miller and Chapman. ... You hope that those two guys can shut down their offense for two innings and it gives you a chance to win the game and that’s exactly what happened,” manager Joe Girardi said.
It appeared as if the Yankees’ best players would be wasted again, sitting unused in the bullpen with the offense held scoreless through six innings.
But after Brian McCann and Starlin Castro tied the game with back-to-back homers in the seventh inning, the feeling in The Bronx shifted, then strengthened when Miller emerged from the bullpen.
“It was tied, but I felt like we had a lot of momentum and they had a chance to turn it,” Miller said. “You hate to go out there and load the bases and escape and kind of let the air out of it.”
Facing the heart of the Angels order, Miller (3-0) struck out Kole Calhoun, Mike Trout and Albert Pujols, lowering his ERA to 1.09 and marking the eighth time this season he’s struck out at least three batters.
Miller has now struck out 45-of-92 (48.9 percent) batters he’s faced this season.
“He’s just been great,” Girardi said. “He’s been a treat to have. He’s really easy to manage and he always wants the ball and we have to shut him down. He’ll take it every day if we let him. Besides that, he does a fantastic job wherever we put him.”
Before the game, G ir ar di planned on using Miller as the closer, but Chapman told the manager he would be available to pitch for the third straight day and fourth time in five days.
Chapman, who allowed two hi t s and one run in hi s last appearance — which included the costly mental error of not backing up the catcher on a play at the plate — didn’t allow any drama to resurface, recording a strikeout before inducing two pop outs.
“Things get exposed in the bullpen so quick, a bad five minutes can ruin ERAs or make a week look bad, [but] I don’t think we get too involved in that,” Miller said. “You try to move on and get back out there and it’s nice to go out there and kind of redeem yourself and get a positive feeling.”