The Yankees have fallen victim to a seemingly endless barrage of backbreaking losses, and the bullpen has been behind them all.
After looking like one of the best bullpens in baseball earlier in the season, the bullpen has begun to implode since Aroldis Chapman’s sudden slump began in mid-June, when he gave up four runs in the ninth to the Twins in a 7-5 loss. Two week after, he surrendered a game-tying grand slam in the ninth to Jared Walsh and the Angels to turn an 8-4 lead into an 11-8 loss.
It got worse in Houston, when a potential sweep was lost due to a six-run ninth by the Astros just before the All-Star break, and in a pivotal series against the Red Sox, two late-inning leads were lost, a 4-1 lead in the ninth on Thursday and a 4-0 lead was lost in the eighth on Sunday.
But Aaron Boone hasn’t lost confidence in his beleaguered bullpen.
“We have really good relief pitchers, and without question we’ve had four or five just gut-wrenching, awful, tough outings where we’ve lost a game, but hoping that’s more of an aberration, especially with a guy like Lo who has been good all year,” Boone told Carton and Roberts on Tuesday. “I’m very confident these guys will all bounce back. i feel very good with where Chappie and Britton are starting to move. Hopefully we keep putting ourselves in a position to win those games and start to close them out.”
Jonathan Loaisiga, after Domingo German allowed just one hit over seven dominant innings, surrendered four earned runs without recording an out on Sunday, losing a chance to at least leave Boston with a series split. Some clamored for Loaisiga, who has been dominant for much of the season, to be taken out sooner, and while it’s something he obviously second-guessed given the outcome, Boone felt sticking with Loaisiga was the right move.
“Ultimately, just felt like he was actually throwing the ball pretty well,” Boone said. “Made the mistake to [Franchy] Cordero on a two-strike where it was just right down the middle and he got him with a base hit. [Hunter] Renfroe hit a ball that probably doesn’t hit typically, just ran into that ball down the line. Just felt like if he could continue to execute his sinker and breaking ball, he gave us a really good matchup against [Enrique] Hernandez. Going into that, I think he had given up one extra-base hit to a righty all year.
“Sometimes you get had. Sometimes guys put good swings on a ball. Enrique ended up getting a pitch he could handle and smoked one. But sure, absolutely I considered it. Is that a spot where you go to Britt? In hindsight, maybe I wish I would have, but I also felt really good about Lo and what he’s capable of in that spot.”
Chapman and Loaisiga have had their implosions, while Chad Green crumbled in the loss to Houston before the break. Zack Britton has struggled as he tries to find some rhythm following two IL stints, and the result is a mess of a bullpen that looks nothing like it did at the start of the season.
But Boone maintains that the group can get back to that early-season form, though the team can’t continue to survive continuous meltdowns to playoff teams.
“If I look at Jonathan Loaisiga and Chad Green and Zack Britton and Aroldis Chapman, those are great pitchers that I still feel very good about that are gonna be closing important games out the rest of the way,” Boone said. “Because we’ve had four or five where different guys have been had on a certain day, that’s gonna happen. Unfortunately it’s happened to us in some really tough situations where we’ve had big leagues, but overall, those guys aren’t depleted guys. They’re still great pitchers who have had bumps in the road once or twice.”
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