Chapman struggles won’t lead to pen change: Boone

BALTIMORE — With a short schedule shrinking by the day, the Yankees having lost 10 of 14 games and Aroldis Chapman getting bit by the long-ball bug lately, manager Aaron Boone was asked Friday if he was thinking about shuffling the back end of the bullpen.

“No, because I do feel like just watching Chappy digging in, I do feel like he is very close to what he normally is. I feel like there is an element of him still working through having not really having spring training,’’ Boone said of the hard-throwing lefty closer, whose season didn’t start until Aug. 17 due to COVID-19. “Him just throwing a few bullpens on the way into the season, still feel like working into that midseason form, that game mode, but I feel he is a lot closer than a couple of his results have been and hopefully with the continued reps he will get back to his dominant self.”

Chapman struck out two and walked one in an inning of relief in a 6-5 win over the Orioles during the first game of Friday’s doubleheader. Chapman did not pitch in the second game, a 6-3 loss.

Last Friday at Yankee Stadium, the

Mets’ Amed Rosario hit a 2-0 pitch for a game-winning homer in the second game of a doubleheader sweep at Yankee Stadium. Chapman saved a 5-3 win over the Rays on Tuesday at the Stadium, and also buzzed Mike Brosseau’s head with a 101-mph fastball, which angered the Rays. He gave up a solo-homer to the Mets’ J.D. Davis in the ninth inning Thursday that tied the score, 7-7, and led to a crushing 9-7 loss when Pete Alonso homered off Albert Abreu in the 10th.

Since the Yankees entered a doubleheader against the Orioles on Friday night at Camden Yards five games behind the AL East-leading Rays, tied for second with the plucky Blue Jays and had two dozen games remaining, Chapman has become a central figure in a season that hasn’t gone according to plan.

Remember when the postseason format was announced and a few Yankees believed it didn’t reward the team that won a division title? Those asking the questions, and a lot of other folks, believed the Yankees were not only the favorite to repeat as AL East champs but had a good chance to win a World Series title.

Even before Giancarlo Stanton,

James Paxton, Zack Britton and Aaron Judge went on the IL, the biggest reason the Yankees were considered among the elite was their bullpen.

Then Tommy Kahnle was lost to Tommy John surgery. Chad Green hit a rough patch, Britton landed on the IL with a left hamstring problem and Chapman has blown two of three save chances by giving up game-ending home runs.

Recently, Chapman pointed out that his fastball command hasn’t been what it should be and admitted he has been taking several miles off the pitch to get it where he wants to. However, it doesn’t appear the 32-year-old is experiencing a physical problem, because his four-seam fastball has been in the 98-mph range which is where it was last year.

When Chapman was out, Boone turned to Britton to close. The lefty went 8-for-8 in saves and would be more than capable of reverting back to the closer role if needed. The Yankees’ bullpen, however, is at its best when Britton, who contributed to Thursday’s crushing loss to the Mets by giving up two runs and three hits in the eighth inning, is working in front of Chapman.