New York Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman made his debut against the Kansas City Royals on Monday and was flattered by the reaction he received from the home crowd.
“It was incredible,” he said through a translator, per ESPN.com’s Andrew Marchand.
The 28-year-old Cuban wowed the fans with his vintage 100-plus mph fastballs. Coming on in the ninth inning with New York up 6-2, he struck out the first two hitters he faced but allowed a double to Paulo Orlando before Alcides Escobar delivered an RBI single.
Chapman eventually forced Lorenzo Cain to ground out two batters later to seal the Yankees’ 6-3 win.
Regardless, Chapman still appeared to be happy with his first appearance in pinstripes.
“I felt good out there for being my first outing,” he said through a translator, according to the Associated Press (via Fox Sports). “Very excited and happy to see the fans receive me the way they did, but I was looking to stay focused and get the job done.”
ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark provided a breakdown of Chapman’s heaters on the day:
MLB.com director of baseball research and development Daren Willman also noted that Chapman did not take long to set a league standard:
With Chapman back, the Yankees can finally start to deploy their loaded bullpen, which also features Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller. However, New York needs to start building leads if it wants to put that unit to good use. The team is last in the American League in runs scored, according to ESPN.com.
The return of New York’s marquee offseason addition should provide a spark with his electrifying stuff. Look for the Yankees to start stringing together some wins in the near future with the team being close to full strength.
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