Aroldis Chapman Escapes an Eerily Familiar Tight Spot in Yankees’ Victory

CLEVELAND — Rajai Davis may be long gone, but for Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman, the ghost of Davis was present and accounted for here Saturday night.

In Chapman’s first appearance at Progressive Field since last November — when he was here with the Chicago Cubs and gave up a game-tying, eighth-inning home run to Davis in Game 7 of the World Series — he had some more late-game jitters against the Cleveland Indians.

This time, though, Chapman had some help, mostly from left fielder Brett Gardner, who helped preserve a 2-1 victory with a leaping catch at the wall that robbed Jose Ramirez of perhaps a game-tying extra-base hit.

Chase Headley’s solo homer in the eighth gave the Yankees the lead and ultimately the win, which ended a four-game losing streak and kept the Yankees within three games of first-place Boston in the American League East.ontinue reading the main story

When Chapman went to the mound in the ninth, and Michael Brantley greeted him with a line-drive single, the sellout crowd rose to its feet, rekindling memories of that chilly night last fall.

Photo

Chase Headley, right, after hitting a solo home run in the eighth inning. CreditPhil Long/Associated Press

“It’s a natural thing,” Indians right fielder Brandon Guyer said. “It went through our minds. It’s a new year, a new game, but it definitely brought some memories back.”

In Game 7, it was Guyer who greeted Chapman with a run-scoring double with two outs in the eighth and then scored on the Davis homer — a line drive down the left-field line that just cleared the wall.

While Davis, now with the Oakland Athletics, was missing from the scene, Ramirez acted as something of an understudy. Ramirez followed Brantley’s single by connecting with an 0-2 pitch from Chapman and sending a high drive toward the 20-foot-high left-field wall. Gardner drifted back and leapt to make the catch, sending Brantley scurrying back to first instead of racing closer to home.

“It was fortunate it wasn’t hit six inches higher, because it could have been a different result in the game,” said Gardner, who pounded his glove after he had made the catch. “Off the bat, I don’t think anybody knew what was going to happen.”

Edwin Encarnacion followed by lacing a soft liner to right field that second baseman Ronald Torreyes was able to chase down with a diving catch. With two outs, Carlos Santana — who had lined a solo homer off starter Jordan Montgomery in the second inning — worked the count full and lined a fastball down the right-field line that at the last moment sliced just wide of the foul pole.