The night couldn’t have unfolded much better from Joe Girardi’s perspective.
He had a powerful new weapon at his disposal in the back end of his bullpen and was able to deploy it.
And not in the cauldron of a closing situation — which was a good thing, as it turned out.
An early power show — five solo home runs in the first 2 2⁄3 innings, including two by Carlos Beltran — gave the Yankees a 6-3 victory over the Royals
Aroldis Chapman, who soon will inherit the closer’s role from Andrew Miller, came on in the ninth in a non-save situation with the Yankees leading by four runs.
It also worked out well that he had a bit of a cushion.
What was left of the crowd gave Chapman a loud ovation, with a majority of the fans giving him a standing ovation.
Chapman struck out the first two batters before allowing a pinch hit double by Paulo Orlando and an RBI single by Alcides Escobar that made it 6-3.
His first pitch to Omar Infante was a called strike at 100 mph. His first two pitches reached 100 mph, the next two 101. Infante struck out on a 97-mph fastball and Cheslor Cuthbert went down on a 101-mph heater.
Chapman, given a 30-game suspension by MLB for an alleged domestic-abuse incident last October, spent April pitching in extended spring training games, mostly facing young minor- leaguers with little chance of ever making it to the big leagues.
Girardi’s ideal scenario was to get the lefthander a chance to face major league hitters in a non-save situation.
Mission accomplished.
Ivan Nova, making his first start of the season as he took the injured CC Sabathia’s rotation spot, finished an out short of the victory.
Nova allowed one run and six hits in 4 2⁄3 innings. With two on and two outs in the fifth, Girardi brought on lefty Phil Coke to face the lefthanded-hitting Eric Hosmer. Hosmer flied out to the middle of the track in left to end the inning.
Kirby Yates earned the victory, pitching a scoreless 1 2⁄3 innings.
All of that, including Chapman’s outing, of course, to a degree was the secondary to the Yankees’ offense.
Taking advantage of batting practice-caliber pitches thrown by former Met Chris Young, the Yankees blasted five homers: two by Beltran and one each by Brian McCann, Brett Gardner and Aaron Hicks.
Young faced 14 hitters and five of them homered.
McCann jumped on a 1-and-1 pitch and drove it just over the wall in right for his fourth homer of the season to make it 1-0.
The lead did not last long. Nova retired Kendrys Morales to open the second before Alex Gordon stepped into a full-count fastball that came in at 95 mph and belt-high and sent it into the net that overhangs Monument Park in center to make it 1-1.
Beltran untied it in the bottom half, launching a flat 87-mph fastball to deep right-center for his fifth homer, giving the Yankees the lead for good at 2-1.
The homer was the 397th of Beltran’s career, tying him with Mark Teixeira for fourth-most by a switch hitter.
Gardner led off the third with his second homer in as many nights — giving him four this season — and three pitches later, Hicks gave the Yankees their first back-to-back blasts of the season for a 4-1 lead.
After Young retired McCann and Teixeira, Beltran put a merciful end (at least from the rigththander’s perspective) to Young’s night, sending another flat pitch to deep right-center to make it 5-1. That allowed Beltran to pass Teixeira.
Hicks’ sacrifice fly in the seventh made it 6-1 and Chasen Shreve gave up a first-pitch homer to Hosmer in the eighth that made it 6-2. At that point, Shreve had given up five home runs in his last 5 2⁄3 innings.
..... - Newsday