NEW YORK — Aroldis Chapman is having the worst stretch of his career. It couldn’t come at a worse time for his New York Yankees, who dropped to 41-41 with a 10-5 loss to the New York Mets in the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader.
It was Chapman’s fourth blown save in his last nine chances; he had not pitched since the nuclear meltdown on June 30 when he allowed a game-tying grand slam in the ninth inning. Coming in for the final frame of the seven-inning affair, Chapman twisted a questionable slider to Pete Alonso. Chapman had gotten ahead of Alonso 1-2 on high fastballs, but opted for the slider as a putaway pitch.
Alonso put it into the bullpen to tie the ballgame at five.
“I don’t think that was the right spot for that,” Boone said of the failed slider. “I don’t think it was the right pitch to go with the slider.” His catcher took the blame for calling it.
“That’s on me,” said Kyle Higashioka. “We shouldn’t have thrown that. I thought if we could get it in the dirt we could get a swing and miss. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case.”
A hit by pitch and a walk later, and Chapman was pulled, walking solemnly to the dugout as boos, middle fingers and the familiar feeling of impending defeat came from every section of Yankee Stadium. Lucas Luetge took over and issued a single to Kevin Pillar, loading the bases. No one will remember the strikeout to James McCann that came next, because each of the next three hitters drove in the killer runs.
Down to his final strike, pinch hitter Jose Peraza strung a rope into deep left field. An overzealous fan reached over the wall to catch it, briefly giving Peraza a grand slam, but the umpires quickly gathered and decided it was a two-run double instead.
Peraza and Kevin Pillar scored on Brandon Nimmo’s single, and Nimmo buzzed home when Francisco Lindor singled as well. All told, the Mets put up a six spot in the ninth inning, thwacking five hits while sending 10 hitters to the plate.
The Mets took it to both of the Yankees’ high-profile pitchers. In addition to the beating they put on Chapman, they also gave Gerrit Cole the hook after 80 pitches.
“I don’t truthfully have one thing as of yet,” Cole said when asked if he could pinpoint the reason for his struggles. “I felt like I had pretty good stuff today and the ball was moving the way we wanted. Hits just fell in. We need to continue to fight. Anything is possible.”
In between the Yankees’ two All-Stars — yes, Cole and Chapman were named to the All-Star team Sunday — Jonathan Loaisiga and Chad Green locked down some very important outs. The two relievers built a sturdy bridge to Chapman before the closer collapsed.
For the Mets, Dom Smith’s hot streak got another dash of gasoline at the start of the game. Smith launched his third home run in the last four days, giving him six RBI already in the month of July. Marcus Stroman was solid despite not striking any Yankees out, which made him the first Mets starter to log five innings without a punchout since Robert Gsellman in 2017.
The loss to a crosstown rival marked just another disastrous day for the Yankees. Their embattled ace went just 3.1 innings; their embattled closer blew another save. At one point the men in pinstripes had won 22 of 30 games. After blowing a 4-1 lead on Sunday, they now sit at .500 on the year.
“Another awful loss,” Boone succinctly said for seemingly the thousandth time this year. “No other way to put it.”
