Who will be called if the Yankees generate a save chance against the Mets? Boone announced his plan

It’s not a secret for anybody that New York Yankees’ closer Aroldis Chapman is currently going through a rough patch on the mound. He didn’t allow any earned runs in April, but has struggled so much as of late that his ERA is up to 3.77, with a mediocre 1.36 WHIP.

The last seven games have been especially bad for him. In that stretch, the Yankees’ fireballer has an 11.12 ERA with nine hits and eight walks allowed in 5.2 frames. His WHIP in those seven contests is 3.00, and that simply won’t get the job done.

Yankees’ manager Aaron Boone knows his closer isn’t going through the best of stretches right now, and he was asked about him before Friday’s game, which ended up being postponed because of the weather conditions.

If there hadn’t been a rainout on Friday, and if there isn’t one on Saturday, the Yankees’ skipper knows who will take care of any hypothetical save chances, and that guy is Aroldis Chapman.

“If we have a chance to close out a game, I expect (Chapman) to be out there,” Boone said, per NJ Advance Media. “I do think there’s been a couple outings in the last several where he’s still been a little out of line delivery wise and that led to a couple balls and trying to find it out there in the fire.”

The Yankees are letting Chapman work through his issues on the mound

Chapman has struggled mainly with his fastball command, and could be a victim of MLB’s prohibition of sticky substances on the ball for pitchers.

Media present at the stadium asked Yankees’ reliever Darren O’Day whether it would be wise to let Chapman work through his struggles in a less stressful role, at least for a couple of outings.

“That’s a great question,” O’Day said. “The save is a big stat in baseball and sometimes as a middle reliever/high-leverage guy, it’s like the seventh-, eighth-inning job is a little bit harder than the closer because the closer always has the clean inning and never has to come into a tight situation with guys on base.

“But where closers earn their money, and they get paid significantly more, is when they blow saves or they struggle. All that attention is on them. It really is a challenge. I’ve been there where (Chapman) is before. I haven’t done that in New York, but it is a challenge. It really tests your mental skills and your fortitude.

“It’s funny because we’ve all been throwing baseballs for pretty much our entire life — childhood, adolescence, adulthood — but sometimes that skill escapes you.”

For now, it’s going to be Chapman out there if the Yankees are leading by three runs or less in the ninth.