The Yankees had a chance so as to add one other all-time spotlight to their many years of postseason heroics.
As an alternative, they ended up on the improper facet of playoff historical past.
In Tuesday evening’s Wild Card Sport 1, the Yankees turned the primary workforce in MLB postseason historical past to load the bases with no outs within the backside of the ninth, then fail to attain and lose the sport, in response to Opta Stats.
“They got us tonight,” supervisor Aaron Boone mentioned after the Yankees’ 3-1 loss to the Boston Crimson Sox within the Bronx.
The Yankees loaded the bases in opposition to Crimson Sox nearer Aroldis Chapman behind three successive singles by Paul Goldschmidt, Aaron Choose and Cody Bellinger, placing the tying run in scoring place and the successful run at first base.
However Chapman bore right down to strike out Giancarlo Stanton, induce a flyout from Jazz Chisholm Jr. and strike out Trent Grisham.
The sport ended when Grisham foul tipped a 101.2-mph fastball from Chapman into catcher Carlos Narvaez’s glove.
The loss left the Yankees getting ready to elimination within the best-of-three playoff collection.
“One hit there, we’d tie the game,” Goldschmidt mentioned. “Unfortunately, it didn’t work out, but a good job to give ourselves a chance. Chappy’s probably been the best reliever in the game this year. … Weren’t able to come through, but if we face him again, hopefully it’ll be different.”
Chapman spent components of seven seasons with the Yankees from 2016-22, going 1-3 with six saves in 17 playoff appearances.
A type of losses got here in Sport 6 of the 2019 ALCS, when Jose Altuve struck a walk-off house run in opposition to Chapman to ship the Houston Astros to the World Collection
One other got here a yr later within the winner-take-all Sport 5 of the ALDS, when Mike Brosseau of the Tampa Bay Rays tagged Chapman for a go-ahead house run.
Chapman was left off the Yankees’ playoff roster in 2022 after he missed a exercise, and he didn’t return the next season.
“That’s in the past,” Chapman mentioned Tuesday of how his Yankees tenure ended. “Everybody is entitled to their own opinions. That’s just in the past.”
Chapman, 37, delivered a resurgent season this yr, his first with the Crimson Sox, with 32 saves, a 1.17 ERA and 85 strikeouts in 61.1 innings.
Tuesday marked Chapman’s first four-out save of the yr and solely his second look during which he recorded greater than three outs.
Chapman sat by way of a chronic high of the ninth during which the Crimson Sox scored an insurance coverage run and the Yankees made a pitching change.
After loading the bases within the ninth, Chapman mentioned he tried “to calm myself down and tried to executive pitch by pitch.”
“Just had a little momentum,” Choose mentioned. “Goldy starts us off with a great at-bat, driving one to right. I’m just trying to follow suit. Don’t try to do too much. Put the ball in play, especially with our lineup, just keep the train moving. We couldn’t pull away with one there, or two to tie it, but I like us getting a chance to see Chapman.”
