WASHINGTON – When Aroldis Chapman hit the COVID-19 disabled list, it was fair to wonder what it would mean to lose a dominant closer to a bullpen that many consider the best in baseball.
On Sunday in a blanching National Park, the Yankees had their first taste of life without Chapman in their 3-2 win and did not blink.
Adam Ottavino and Chad Green combined for three goalless relief innings and Tommy Kahnle entered the eighth with a one-run lead.
After Gleyber Torres made a mistake pitching Trea Turner’s ground ball and doubled to Adam Eaton’s left field, Kahnle intervened two strikeouts around an intentional walk to left-hander Eric Thames to get Torres off the hook.
Zack Britton, Aaron Boone’s choice to replace Chapman, worked ninth with great anxiety to save a win that sent the Yankees to Philadelphia with a 2-1 record despite not hitting much in the past two games here.
Luke Voit and Torres homered in the seventh to get the Yankees out of a 2-0 deficit and Torres’ RBI single in the eighth was the winner of the game.
Britton was the victim of a flawed defense in the ninth when Torres lost his balance grounding Asdrubal Cabrera to second and Gary Sanchez was charged with a pass that moved Cabrera to second with no outs.
Sánchez atoned for the ball past with a strong throw to third that caught pinch runner Emilio Bonifacio trying to hit third when Bonifacio passed the bag on a 3-2 pitch to Victor Robles who was out of the strike zone.
With a runner on first and an exit instead of runners on first and second and no outs, Britton retired Yan Gomes in a fly to the center and ended with Michael Taylor on a ground ball to Torres.
Three games in a shortened season, the Yankees are seeing a problem they weren’t expected to encounter.
With Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Gary Sanchez healthy and Torres and DJ LeMahieu at the top of the lineup, the Yankees were expected to hit pitchers.
Despite Stanton’s monstrous home runs in the first two games, the Yankees’ lineup began to weaken in the second game of the season against five pitchers who replaced Stephen Strasburg on Saturday night.
On Sunday, it was left-hander Patrick Corbin who dominated the Yankees for 6 ¹ / ₃ innings allowing one run and two hits. One of those hits was Torres’ home run in the seventh. He was Corbin’s last hitter.
The Yankees have scored nine runs in three games, but because of Gerrit Cole on opening day and Sunday’s bullpen, they are 2-1 with 57 games remaining this season.
After Torres’ home run, Nationals manager Dave Martinez replaced Corbin, whose pitch count was 75, with right-hander Will Harris to face Stanton. Harris made Stanton swing through a ball breaking on the ground for a strikeout. It was the third blow of the game for Stanton.
Voit picked up Stanton by throwing a 2-0 shot over the left field wall to tie the score, 2-2.
When left-handed reliever Sean Doolittle surfaced in the Nationals bullpen, Aaron Boone went to his bench. Substitution hitter Aaron Hicks hit for Kyle Higashioka and took a walk to start the eighth. Sanchez hit Mike Tauchman and watched a 0-2 shot for the first on LeMahieu’s single-front off to the right.
With the runners first and second judge, the first Yankee to hit with a runner in scoring position, he lined up to the left. Doolittle slipped behind Torres, 2-1, and saw him throw a single-out drive to left center that easily scored Hicks from the second.
David Hale had replaced Jonathan Loaisiga to start the fourth and Castro received him with a double. Howie Kendrick’s ground ball to the right moved Castro to third and scored on Eric Thames’ single to the right. Hale killed the rally by causing Cabrera to hit with a double play 4-6-3.
Before the game, Boone talked about Loaisiga being a good option to open the game.
“We think it is a very good option, especially the first time you place the order,” Boone said.
The right-hander sailed well for the Nationals’ first nine hitters, but the second time Turner saw Loaisiga homered to the left in the third on a 2-2 shot that was clocked at 96 mph. When Loaisiga fed Adam Eaton, his day was over. In three innings, Loaisiga gave one run, two hits, struck out three and walked one.
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