CHAPMAN BACK IN YANKEES’ BULLPEN
Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman has been activated from the disabled list.
New York announced the move Wednesday before the second game of a threegame series against the AL Eastleading Red Sox.
Chapman has been out since Aug. 21 with left knee tendinitis. The allstar lefthander threw a simulated game Monday and said Tuesday that he had recovered well.
He was available out of the bullpen Wednesday night. New York is trying to prevent Boston from clinching the division at Yankee Stadium for the second time in three years. The Red Sox can clinch with one victory.
The hardthrowing Chapman has 31 saves and a 2.11 ERA in 50 appearances this season.
White Sox’s Kopech out for 2019 after surgery.
Sox pitcher Michael Kopech had Tommy John surgery on his right elbow and will miss the 2019 season.
Kopech, the top pitching prospect in the organization, is expected to be ready for spring training in 2020. The surgery was performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles.
Kopech, 22, was 11 with a 5.02 ERA in four starts this season. He was placed on the 60day disabled list with a torn elbow ligament Sept 8.
“Michael understands intellectually what it’s going to require to come back,” manager Rick Renteria said. “We’re confident that he’ll be able to do that and become the kind of pitcher we know he can be.”
Kopech was acquired in the trade that sent star pitcher Chris Sale to Boston following the 2016 season. He was drafted by Boston in the first round in 2014.
Indians easing Bauer back in.
The Indians want Trevor Bauer in their postseason rotation.
The next step will come Friday night against the Red Sox in his first appearance since breaking his right leg last month.
Indians manager Terry Francona said Bauer will pitch a “couple of innings” and then throw in the bullpen to increase his pitch count.
Francona wants Bauer to make two additional starts during the regular season. The righthander is expected to start Tuesday against the White Sox and will probably pitch again the last weekend of the season at Kansas City.
Rangers’ Bush to miss first half of 2019.
Rangers hardthrowing reliever Matt Bush has had surgery to repair a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament that will keep him out the first half of the 2019 season.
Assistant general manager Mike Daly says Bush did not have Tommy John surgery. Instead, he had a procedure to repair and reinforce the ligament in his right elbow. Bush hasn’t pitched since June 13. He had a 4.70 ERA in 23 innings over 21 appearances.
Bush had tried stem cell treatment and was throwing again at one point before the surgery.
Mets shut down Wheeler.
» The Mets are PHILADELPHIA shutting down righthander Zack Wheeler for the rest of the season as a precaution, ending a careerbest year in which he logged nearly 100 more innings than 2017.
“I feel like I had a good season,” Wheeler said. “I would have liked to have finished it out, but getting 100 more innings than last season without doing that much the past 2½ years, I think it makes sense to kind of shut it down and not really push it.”
Wheeler missed two full seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2015. He returned last season and was 37 with a 5.21 ERA in 17 starts. Wheeler this year went 127 with a 3.31 ERA in 29 starts.