Yankees’ Aroldis Chapman has been playing hurt

NEW YORK — Aroldis Chapman has been hurting the Yankees.

Chapman has also been playing hurt.

Chapman was dealing with an achilles issue when he blew up and surrendered two runs in the ninth inning of a 3-1 loss to the White Sox in Game 1 of a doubleheader on Sunday at Yankee Stadium.

“To me, he didn’t look great on his legs with that, so that was probably an issue today,” Boone said between the games.

Chapman seemed to land awkwardly several times in the inning. A Yankees trainer and Boone visited with Chapman on the mound during the inning but the left-hander wanted to stay in the game.

The Cuba-born hurler gave up a leadoff shot to AJ Pollock to break a 1-1 tie, and then he walked Andrew Vaughn. Vaughn moved to second on a Chapman wild pitch and a Jose Trevino passed ball before scoring on Adam Engel’s double to the left-field corner for a 3-1 White Sox lead.

“He wanted to pitch,” Boone said. “He has been getting some treatment on his achilles. I just feel like when he was moving around, he wasn’t moving around great out there. He wanted the ball.”

The Yankees might need to remove Chapman from crunch-time situations for a while, especially if they don’t put him on the injured list. Chapman has given up an earned run in each of his last five appearances. He didn’t give up an earned run through his first 12 appearances.

Boone also blamed Chapman’s struggles on staying away from his fastball and poor command.

“Not quite as sharp as we’ve seen him,” Boone said.

Please subscribe to us now and support the local journalism YOU rely on and trust.

Brendan Kuty may be reached at bkuty@njadvancemedia.com.

Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.