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By Dan Martin in Houston and Greg Joyce in New York
HOUSTON – Aroldis Chapman will have to wait a bit longer to recover.
The struggling closest to the Yankees spent another game stuck in the relieving pen on Sunday, instead watching Domingo German and Chad Green lose a five-point lead in the ninth inning in a brutal 8-7 loss to the Astros at the Minute Maid Park.
Chapman last appeared in a game on Tuesday in Seattle, pitching a scoreless ninth inning of a 12-1 win.
Ahead of Sunday’s loss, Aaron Boone and pitching coach Matt Blake said they were waiting for the right place to use Chapman. That didn’t happen in the ninth inning on Sunday, as the Yankees started with a 7-2 lead and the German over the mound before Green entered after the first two hitters had reached. Even once Green started to struggle, it was Lucas Luetge, not Chapman, who started to warm up.
“I think he’s so essential to our success, and it’s essential that we get him back to where we need him to be,” said Boone. “I want to pick the situations where I think he can get them, where he gets a clean exit under his belt.”
Prior to his last outing, Chapman had blasted the leads in three consecutive appearances. His struggles go back even further, allowing 14 earned runs in 5 ² / ₃ of innings before the low-leverage inning against the Mariners.
“The work on the side has been really good,” said Blake. “It’s really just trying to put his confidence back behind the fastpitch. … Then you just have to rebuild him and make him think he’s the meanest guy in the mound when he’s there.
After Luis Severino pitched yet another box session at Double-A Somerset on Saturday, Blake said the right-hander likely needed one more before he was ready to face live hitters.
“Things have moved in the right direction,” Blake said of Severino’s rehab of a strained groin he suffered during an early rehab on his return from Tommy John surgery. “He responded well to the increased workloads, so [he’s] to get closer.”
Blake wasn’t sure how many rehab outings Severino would need before he was ready to join the rotation.
“This is the one that we will be following with caution,” said Blake. “We won’t rush him here. [We’ll] make sure he has his feet under him to a point where he’s confident he can handle the major league hitters and recover in a timely manner.
Blake said he was “pretty confident” that Corey Kluber would pitch again this season after being stopped with a strained shoulder. “He continues to improve and stretch his throwing program,” said Blake.
General manager Brian Cashman said the Yankees expected Kluber to return by September.
Michael King (contusion to his right middle finger) played wrestling on Sunday and was feeling well.
In his last start for Triple-A Scranton / Wilkes-Barre, Deivi Garcia scored five goals in five clean innings. He had an irregular first half of the season.
“Just sort of looking for [his] delivery a bit, ”Blake said of Garcia’s control issues, which plagued him throughout the year.
Blake pointed to a possible overcorrection, as the Yankees had said the 22-year-old was sometimes too rotary in his execution and is now sometimes “too linear”.
The Yankees are trying to get Garcia to be more aggressive in the strike zone.
Jonathan Loaisiga remained on COVID-19 IL on Sunday, according to Boone.
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