Chapman dominates in delayed debut
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 splitchange.
Before serving the twogame 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.”
➤ Gerrit 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.”
➤ The Yankees signed left-handed pitcher Mike Montgomery to a minor league deal, The Post’s Joel Sherman confirmed. The veteran spent spring training with the Mets, giving up five earned runs in 7 ¹/3 innings — all of those runs coming in his final outing, a 2 2/3-inning start. Montgomery offers the Yankees both bullpen and rotation depth.