Yankees' Chapman sits Wednesday, won't lose role as closer

Entering Sunday's game against the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman had not allowed a home run in 2017. He's made two appearances since, and has given up a long ball in each outing.

Chapman won't participate in Wednesday's game against the New York Mets, but manager Joe Girardi is not removing him from the closer role, via ESPN's Mark Simon.

"He will continue to be my closer," Girardi said. "We won't close with him tonight because we're going to let him go through some things. We think that his leg is not going to be an issue, but we want him to go through some things and make sure that it is OK.

"If everything he goes through today (is OK) and the trainer says he's fine, he'll be my closer tomorrow."

Chapman's health is being monitored, though the team elected not to have an MRI. The reliever spent time on the disabled list with shoulder inflammationn earlier this season.

Even before the recent increase in home runs, Chapman had been struggling - relative to previous years - in 2017. He has a 3.89 ERA, the highest in his seven full seasons. Meanwhile, his 12.72 strikeouts per nine innings is the lowest it's ever been.

Fortunately for the Yankees, they have a number of high-quality arms in the bullpen, ranging from Dellin Betances (also unavailable Wednesday) to David Robertson and Tommy Kahnle, among others.