Both Adam Ottavino and Aroldis Chapman were charged with blown saves in Sunday's 7-6 win over the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field.

New York's bullpen, which had been one of the team's biggest strengths, had faltered during the Yankees' recent slide.

And yet, the pitching staff is confident it can right the ship.

"Nothing wrong with the bullpen," Ottavino said, according to the New York Post's Ken Davidoff, after giving up a game-tying home run to Jake Bauers in the seventh inning on Sunday.

While Chad Green and Nestor Cortes Jr. combined to throw five scoreless innings, the other Yankees relievers weren't able to find success on Sunday.

Tommy Kahnle gave up four runs and two homers in the sixth inning, including a two-run homer to Mike Freeman that turned a 5-2 lead into a one-run game.

"[That was] probably the best swing of his career off of Kahnle there for that oppo homer," Ottavino said of Freeman's homer off Kahnle.

After the Yankees took the lead in the ninth inning on a Clint Frazier sac fly, Chapman gave it up when Didi Gregorius booted a ball with two runners on and two out, allowing the game-tying run to score.

But though the Yankees were able to avoid a sweep, they have lost five of their last seven games. And though their relievers, as a whole, entered Sunday with the fifth-ranked ERA in the majors, their bullpen factored into several of their losses this past week.

In last Sunday's 8-5 loss to the Red Sox, Luis Cessa gave up five runs in one-plus inning of work (albeit partially due to some defensive miscues in right field by Frazier).

Jonathan Holder, Zack Britton and Cessa combined to allow seven runs (five earned) in two innings of work in Wednesday's 11-7 loss to the Blue Jays. New York, which led 7-4 after six innings, surrendered five runs in the eighth on four hits and no errors.

And on Saturday, Holder allowed a two-run homer to Roberto Perez and a solo homer to Kevin Plawecki in a three-run sixth inning, turning a 4-4 game into a three-run deficit.

Is it just a small sample size or a sign of what's to come? Manager Aaron Boone thinks it's just a blip in the radar.

"Even the best of bullpens, which we feel we have, you're going to have days where you have a hiccup here and there," Boone said. "We've had a couple, I guess, on this trip. [My] confidence ... in that crew remains very high."

CARELLI: Yankees takeaways from Sunday's 7-6 win >> Read more

Popular in the Community