Aroldis Chapman hit 101 mph in his first rehab game - MLB

Cleared to return to game action six weeks after suffering facial fractures from a line drive to the head, Reds left-hander Aroldis Chapman made a minor-league rehab appearance yesterday at Single-A.

And he was clocked at 101 miles per hour on multiple pitches.

Chapman struck out two of the three (completely overmatched) hitters he faced in a 1-2-3 inning and afterward told Andy Call of MLB.com that he felt “normal … like I have always been, the way I felt before the accident. There is no fear, no hesitation with me.”

He was throwing so hard that the Single-A ballpark’s scoreboard wasn’t prepared for it:

The fastest pitches actually read “01” because the scoreboard display contains only two digits. A Dayton team spokesman said no pitcher had ever reached triple digits at Fifth Third Field.

There’s no official timetable set for his return, but Chapman said that “two or three more [appearances in the minors is exactly what I need.”

Announcement: Hardball Talk‘s partner FanDuel is hosting a one-day $50,000 Fantasy Baseball league for Friday night’s MLB games. It’s $25 to join and first prize is $7,500. Starts at 7:05pm ET on Friday. Here’s the FanDuel link.

Follow @AaronGleeman

CINCINNATI — The Los Angeles Dodgers placed pitcher Noah Syndergaard on the 15-day injured list Thursday with a blister on the index finger of his right throwing hand.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the timetable for Syndergaard’s return is unknown despite the 15-day designation.

“The physical, the mental, the emotional part, as he’s talked about, has taken a toll on him,” Roberts said. “So, the ability to get him away from this. He left today to go back to Los Angeles to kind of get back to normalcy.”

Syndergaard allowed six runs and seven hits in three innings against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night, raising his ERA to 7.16.

Syndergaard (1-4) has surrendered at least five runs in three straight starts.

Syndergaard has been trying to return to the player he was before Tommy John surgery sidelined him for the better part of the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Roberts said Syndergaard will need at least “a few weeks” to both heal and get away from baseball and “reset.”

“I think searching and not being comfortable with where he was at in the moment is certainly evident in performance,” Roberts said. “So hopefully this time away will provide more clarity on who he is right now as a pitcher.

“Trying to perform when you’re searching at this level is extremely difficult. I applaud him from not running from it, but it’s still very difficult. Hopefully it can be a tale of two stories, two halves when he does come back.”