Aaron Boone: Aroldis Chapman looked dialed in with save

It seems like you never know exactly what you’re going to get out of Aroldis Chapman when he comes jogging out of the Yankees’ bullpen for a save opportunity. But it was clear to manager Aaron Boone.

“Felt like even from the get-go, it looked like he was just cutting it loose with more confidence that he knew where it was going,” Boone said after the Yankees’ 4-1 home victory over the Rays Tuesday evening.

From his first pitch being fired in at 98 miles per hour, Chapman appeared dialed in, needing only nine pitches to retire the Rays. He entered Tuesday walking at least one hitter in each of his previous three outings -- most notably his three walks and three runs allowed (two earned) in a ninth-inning blown save, which the Red Sox went on to win 5-4 in 10 innings. But after striking out Jake Bauers looking on a slider, he retired C.J. Cron on a comebacker, surrendered a single to Joey Wendle and got Carlos Gomez to fly out to rightfield -- with none of the final three batters seeing any more than two pitches.

“You could tell it looked like he walked out there with more confidence, having a feel of where the ball was going and it was good to see him fill up the strike zone,” Boone said. “And even though he had a couple balls hit hard off him, for the most part having a nice easy, clean inning.”

It was the fewest pitches he had thrown while recording multiple outs all season [nine]. His final two pitches clocked in at 101.1 and 99.7 mph, as he only threw two pitches out of the strike zone. Tuesday was also Chapman’s second save since July 31 and 31st of the season -- tied for third in the American League and fifth in baseball.  

“It looked really good,” Boone said. “That looked like [Chapman].”