Yankees put Aroldis Chapman on DL, call up Chance Adams | What it means

Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman is sidelined with a knee injury.

MIAMI — The Yankees‘ update Wednesday afternoon on closer Aroldis Chapman was expected:

The All-Star left-hander is headed to the 10-day disabled list with left knee tendinitis.

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The announcement came after Chapman underwent an MRI and visited a doctor on Wednesday in Miami.

Chapman was replaced on the Yankees’ 25-man roster by rookie right-hander Chance Adams, who is coming up from Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre to be a reliever and possibly start a game in Saturday’s day-night doubleheader in Baltimore.

Chapman frequently pitched through constant aches and pain since mid-May, but he was hurting enough early into his outing Tuesday night at Marlins Park that he asked to be removed after throwing just six pitches in a 2-1 Yankees victory over the Miami Marlins.

The Yankees gave no timeframe how long Chapman will be out, but the hope is that doesn’t need much more than 10 days to be feeling better.

“I’m confident that he’s going to play a major factor for us down the stretch and hopefully in the postseason,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I don’t think this is something that we’ll be able to manage hopefully.”

Chapman has been told by doctors that he probably won’t get past this issue until getting significant rest in the offseason. The Yankees will have a better idea of how long Chapman will be sidelined after he visits a team doctor Thursday in New York.

“Obviously taking Aroldis Chapman out of your bullpen, that’s a blow,” Boone said. “But we feel like we’re equipped to handle it and we have the guys who are certainly capable of getting big outs in high-leverage spots and to close out a game.”

Without Chapman, the Yankees will call upon setup relievers Dellin Betances, Zach Britton and David Robertson to be fill-in closers.

“It’ll probably be a little bit of everyone,” Boone said. “Obviously, we have capable guys down there with Britton, Dellin and Robby. Those three guys in some shape or form, depending on who we’re playing and depending on who we’ve used and matchups … we’ll kind of mix and match.”

Robertson was unavailable to pitch in Tuesday night’s game due to shoulder soreness and hasn’t been in a game since last Friday, but he was feeling better by Wednesday.

“We’ll try to stay away from (using) him (another day), but he’s adamant that he’s in a much better place today,” Boone said.

Chapman becomes the fifth key Yankees pitcher to hit the DL, joining right fielder Aaron Judge, catcher Gary Sanchez, shortstop Didi Gregorius and left-hander CC Sabathia.

Sabathia will return on Friday to start that night in Baltimore.

On Tuesday night, the Yanks turned to Chapman to close out the Marlins after pulling ahead in the top of the 12th on a sacrifice fly by Miguel Andujar, but he couldn’t even make it through two batters trying to pick up his 32nd save in 34 chances. 

Chapman felt more pain than usual warming in the Yankees bullpen, then it continued while he walked leadoff hitter Isaac Galloway on five pitches in the bottom of the 12th. He threw one more pitch – a 97-mph fastball to Rafeal Ortega that was way high and way outside – before signaling to his dugout with an arm motion that something was wrong.

For the time being, Chapman’s spot in the bullpen is being held by Adams, a Triple-A starter who probably will be used in a long relief role.

Adams, 24, had a decent major league debut starting in Boston on Aug. 4 when he allowed three runs over five innings in a loss against the Red Sox.

Adams is 3-5 with a 4.98 ERA in 23 Triple-A starts this season. Since being optioned back to the RailRiders, he had a bad start on Aug. 11 at Durham (3.1 IP, 7 runs) and a mediocre one on Aug. 16 against Norwich (5.1 IP, 3 runs).

“Obviously, he’s a guy that’s stretched out,” Boone said. “He can protect us and give us length (as a long reliever).”

Right-hander Sonny Gray, recently demoted from the rotation to middle relief, appears on the verge of being picked over Adams to start a game Saturday in Baltimore. Gray is 9-8 with a high 5.34 ERA this season in 25 games, 21 as a starter, but he’s 3-1 with a 4.79 ERA in four starts against the Orioles.

“Sonny’s a possibility (for Saturday),” Boone said. “We’ll just kind of see what today brings and what our needs are. Obviously with the off day (Thursday), we’ll firm up our plans for the weekend in Baltimore.”

Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.