All good things must come to an end, and Aroldis Chapman and the Boston Red Sox experienced this harsh truth firsthand on Wednesday afternoon. After battling back to tie things up against the Athletics in the ninth inning of their series finale, Chapman couldn’t send the game to extra innings.
Over the past couple of weeks, Chapman has been one of the hottest pitchers in baseball. He lowered his ERA all the way down to 0.98, and he hadn’t given up a hit to the past 50 batters he had faced.
That changed against the A’s. Right off the bat, Shea Langeliers ripped a leadoff double, putting himself in scoring position. After Brent Rooker lined out to right, Lawrence Butler would win the game for the Athletics by hitting a game-winning RBI single.
This will go down as the third loss of the season for Chapman, and while it’s a tough result, he’s been so good over as of late that it’s tough to be too upset with him for faltering. In his previous outing against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Chapman struck out four batters in one inning, highlighting his insane dominance with the Sox.
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Boston had already secured a series victory over the Athletics, but every win counts in the playoff race they currently find themselves in, and a sweep would have been sweet. Instead, they will have to settle for two out of three after Chapman allowed a run for the first time since July 23.
The Red Sox will enjoy a day off on Thursday before returning home for a six-game homestand. When they take the field on Friday, they will kick off a wildly important three-game series with the New York Yankees that could have major playoff repercussions, so while this loss stings, the team will have to turn the page quickly.
