Aroldis Chapman entered in the ninth inning of a save situation for the first time since he was removed as the New York Yankees’ closer last month.

The hard-throwing lefthander made it look as easy as 1-2-3.

Chapman struck out two in a perfect ninth to finish a one-hitter in the Yankees’ 3-1 win over the Rangers on Saturday in Arlington, Texas.

Tyler Austin hit a go-ahead single in the ninth inning for the wild-card-leading Yankees.

‘‘I feel good about him out there,’’ manager Joe Girardi said. ‘‘This is a guy that’s been too good for too long, for me, to lose it. It’s good to get him back out there. He threw well.’’

Before the game, Girardi said he would prefer to settle on a closer over the committee approach he has employed since demoting Chapman after he gave up two runs in a non-save situation in a 9-6 loss at Boston on Aug. 18.

Chapman had his fifth scoreless outing in six appearances since, capping it with a swinging strikeout of Mike Napoli on a 102-m.p.h. fastball for his team-leading 17th save in 21 chances.

‘‘Really nice,’’ said starter Luis Severino, who struck out 10 in seven innings in his first no-decision since July 15 at Boston.

‘‘I know he can throw a strike. I know he can get that role, that save.’’

The only hit off Severino was Brett Nicholas’s run-scoring double with two outs in the fifth. Will Middlebrooks, the lone runner past second against Severino, scored from first.

Chase Headley drove in two runs without a hit — a tying sacrifice fly in the eighth and a bases-loaded walk for a 3-1 lead in the ninth.

David Robertson pitched a perfect eighth.

Texas starter Andrew Cashner had a shutout while pitching into the eighth inning for just the second time this season, but left after hitting Todd Frazier with the first pitch of the eighth.

Alex Claudio gave up a single to pinch hitter Matt Holliday, putting Frazier at third with no outs and setting up Headley’s sacrifice fly an out later.

‘‘I felt like I could have kept going, but I thought Frazier was going to come out swinging,’’ Cashner said. ‘‘I wasn’t trying to throw a strike and it just sailed on me.’’

Claudio allowed four singles among eight batters he faced. Frazier was hit by a pitch again in the ninth by Ricky Rodriguez, who allowed Austin’s go-ahead hit and Headley’s walk.

Indians 4, Orioles 2 — Cleveland earned its 17th straight win, topping Baltimore behind a pair of timely hits by Jay Bruce and Francisco Lindor.

Bruce’s fourth-inning single put the Indians ahead to stay as Cleveland became just the second team since 1961 to win 17 straight in a season.

The crowd of 30,459 stood throughout the ninth inning as Cody Allen retired the heart of Baltimore’s order for his 25th save.

Cleveland’s franchise-record streak is the majors’ longest since Oakland won 20 straight in 2002.

The longest streak in baseball history belongs to the New York Giants, who had a 26-game run in 1916, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The Giants’ streak included a tie, which doesn’t count as a game in baseball.

Lindor added his 28th homer in the seventh for the Indians, who haven’t lost since Aug. 23.

Cleveland has outscored its opponents, 118-30, in the streak, but its latest win came in a rare close game.

The Orioles jumped in front on Trey Mancini’s infield hit against Josh Tomlin in the first. It was the first time since Cleveland’s last loss that the Indians didn’t score first.

Tomlin (9-9) was pulled after Tim Beckham’s leadoff homer in the sixth. Five relievers combined to work the final four innings.

Baltimore rookie Gabriel Ynoa (1-1), making his first start of the season, allowed three runs in 4⅔ innings. The Orioles were three games out in the wild-card race entering play.

Giovanny Urshela’s third-inning double tied it at 1. Carlos Santana scored on Bruce’s single past a drawn-in infield, and then added an RBI double in the fifth.

Athletics 11, Astros 1 — Houston’s bullpen forced in five runs with bases-loaded walks and the team tied a franchise record with 13 free passes in its second straight loss to host Oakland in a doubleheader opener.

Oakland led, 3-1, before Tyler Clippard issued the first bases-loaded walk to Jed Lowrie in the sixth inning. Reymin Guduan brought in three more while allowing five straight walks on 28 pitches in the eighth. Infielder J.D. Davis relieved Guduan and struck out Marcus Semien and Khris Davis, but also allowed another run by walking Chad Pinder.

J.D. Davis ran his fastball up to 93 m.p.h., and even mixed in a changeup and breaking ball while striking out Khris Davis.

It was the second pitching appearance this year for the Astros infielder, and he’s struck out three of the seven batters he’s faced.

Houston tied the franchise mark for walks set on May 4, 1975, against the Giants. The Astros entered the series with a seven-game winning streak, and their magic number remains at eight.

Starter Charlie Morton (11-7) took the loss by allowing three runs in five innings.

Daniel Gossett (4-8) had a career-high seven strikeouts and allowed one run over six-plus innings for his first win since Aug. 2 and the A’s third straight overall.

Khris Davis hit a two-run single in the sixth to become the first Oakland player in nearly 15 years with 100 RBIs or more in consecutive seasons. Davis has 101 RBIs this season after he drove in 102 in 2016, the first A’s player to have 100 or more in back-to-back seasons since Eric Chavez and Miguel Tejada in 2002-03.

Alex Bregman doubled in the Astros’ run. It’s only the second time in the past 20 games that Houston has been held under two runs.

Morton struck out three straight batters following a leadoff double in the first but allowed three runs in the second when the Astros made a pair of errors. Morton made one of them when he bobbled Semien’s soft comebacker and was late throwing to the plate.

Brewers 15, Cubs 2 — Hernan Perez homered and drove in five runs, and Milwaukee pounded host Chicago.

Chase Anderson pitched five scoreless innings as Milwaukee pulled within three games of the NL Central-leading Cubs. Anderson also helped himself with two hits and two RBIs just hours after the Brewers announced Jimmy Nelson has a shoulder injury that will sideline the righthander for the rest of the season.

Milwaukee broke it open with eight runs in the third against Mike Montgomery (5-8) and reliever Justin Grimm. Travis Shaw and Orlando Arcia each hit a two-run double, Ryan Braun scored on a balk by Grimm, and Perez had a sacrifice fly.

Cardinals 4, Pirates 3 — Yadier Molina and Matt Carpenter homered, and host St. Louis pulled within three games of the division-leading Cubs with it sixth victory in seven games.

Cardinals center fielder Dexter Fowler bruised his left knee when he crashed into the wall trying to catch a long drive by Adam Frazier that turned into an inside-the-park home run.

Blue Jays 5, Tigers 4 —Kevin Pillar had four hits, including the tiebreaking homer, as host Toronto held off Detroit.

Royals 5, Twins 2 — Eric Hosmer drove in the go-ahead run with his third hit in a three-run eighth inning, helping host Kansas City push aside Minnesota.

White Sox 13, Giants 1 — Jose Abreu became the first White Sox player to hit for the cycle in 17 years, among six Chicago players to go deep in a rout of visiting San Francisco.

Mets 6, Reds 1 —Rafael Montero overcame five walks to win his third straight start, Kevin Plawecki hit a two-run homer, for host New York.

Braves 6, Marlins 5 — Ender Inciarte's bases-loaded walk from Kyle Barraclough with two outs in the ninth lifted host Atlanta.

Phillies 5 Nationals 4 — Rhys Hoskins went deep and drew three walks, Maikel Franco hit his 20th home run, and visiting Philadelphia slipped by Washington.