BALTIMORE — Joba Chamberlain rejoined the Yankees on Aug. 1, but he didn’t resemble the flame-throwing reliever they had been looking for all season.
A month later, he may be.
Chamberlain had one of his most dominant — and important — outings in years in yesterday’s 13-3 win over the Orioles. He pitched 1 ²/₃ hitless innings and tied a career high by striking out four in a relief appearance, matching the number he had on Sept. 21, 2007 in Toronto.
And this time, it came at a critical point in the victory.
“It was a big turning point in the game,” said Chamberlain, who bailed out Freddy Garcia after the veteran fell apart in the fourth.
It was a lot earlier than Chamberlain had been accustomed to getting into games, since Joe Girardi relegated him to “low leverage” situations because of his ineffectiveness coming back from Tommy John surgery.
“I went from not pitching in eight days to being up every game on this road trip, which is great,” Chamberlain said. “They have enough confidence in me now to run me out in games if they’re close. I have to earn that. It’s not given to me.”
He has been better recently, giving up just a solo home run in his last 4 ¹/₃ innings, while striking out eight.
“Joba’s last three outings, he’s taken a step in the right direction,” said Joe Girardi, whose bullpen pitched 5 ²/₃ shutout innings yesterday, with Boone Logan, Cory Wade and Derek Lowe all chipping in.
Chamberlain fanned the first two batters he faced — Mark Reynolds and Chris Davis — to get out of the fourth and hit 97 mph on the gun.
Chamberlain pointed to a slight adjustment made in his delivery, moving his hands up a few inches — something he believed eliminated unnecessary movement.
“I watched video and my hands tend to bounce a little bit,” Chamberlain said. “So I moved them up and that seems to have helped.”
Whatever the reason, the Yankees’ overtaxed bullpen could use another effective arm.
If he continues to get batters out in the fashion he did yesterday, expect to see him in more critical situations.
“We don’t have a lot of time left,” manager Joe Girardi said. “In the food chain, you can move up pretty quickly.”
And Chamberlain knows there’s very little margin for error at this point in the season, with the Yankees heading into another huge series tomorrow against the Red Sox at Fenway Park.
“There’s no low-leverage from this point out,” Chamberlain said.