Rapid recall: Royals relive Aroldis return

NEW YORK — The five Royals hitters who faced Yankees fireball-throwing closer Aroldis Chapman on Monday night said, to a man, that they’d never seen anything like it.

Chapman threw 17 pitches, 11 of them fastballs, the rest sliders, and seven of those four-seamers at 100 miles per hour or better.

“He hasn’t changed. He’s the same guy he’s always been,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He’s still throwing 100 mph. He’s coming at you with it. You can see him one time, you can see it 100 times, it’s not going to make it any easier.”

Because of the heat, Chapman is a singular reliever.

“He throws it from the left-hand side, which makes him unique,” Yost said.

Any advice to his hitters?

“Just look for the fastball,” he said sagely.

It mostly didn’t help. Chapman threw. Omar Infante, Cheslor Cuthbert, Paulo Orlando, Alcides Escobar and Lorenzo Cain were the waiting victims. His line was K, K, double, RBI single and grounder back to the mound to end the 6-3 Yankees victory.

The Yankee Stadium crowd of 41,243 was all charged up, watching the Cuban left-hander’s disappearing fastball as the triple-digit numbers kept revolving on the upper left corner of the giant center-field video board. Chapman recorded 146 saves in six seasons pitching for the Reds, and now he’s brought his act to the American League.

It was a rare spectacle, and the Royals obliged. In all, nine of their 12 active position players have faced Chapman now a total of 17 times with four hits and an RBI. On Monday night, Orlando and Cuthbert faced him for the first time, Infante and Escobar the …

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