Aroldis Chapman escapes jam with sloppy pitching, a breakdown
What Happened
Aroldis Chapman, the dominant closer for the Baltimore Orioles, enters the game in the bottom of the eighth inning with his team clinging to a one-run lead against the Texas Rangers. From the start, the hard-throwing left-hander struggles to find the strike zone, missing wildly with his slider and fastball. After falling behind 3-0 to the leadoff batter, Chapman finally manages to even the count at 3-2, but then spikes a nasty splitter in the dirt, allowing the tying run to reach second base with no outs. Orioles manager Buck Showalty looks on anxiously as Chapman continues to battle his command. The fireballer tries mixing in his fastball, which reaches 100 mph, but he can't consistently locate it either. The Rangers hitters lay off the pitches outside the zone, and the tension builds in the stadium as Chapman appears to lose his grip on the game. Sensing the urgency, the Orioles' pitching coach visits the mound to talk with Chapman. As the right-hander shakes his head in frustration, the coach seems to provide some advice, and Chapman comes back with renewed focus. He throws a scorching 100 mph fastball for a called strike, then follows it up with a wipeout slider that the batter can only foul off. With the count now 2-2, Chapman rears back and blows a high fastball past the Rangers hitter, who stands frozen at the plate as the umpire signals the strikeout. The Orioles dugout erupts in cheers, relieved to see their closer escape the jam unscathed. Though he struggled mightily with his control, Aroldis Chapman ultimately uses his elite stuff to battle through the perilous situation, preserving the Orioles' slim lead and keeping their playoff hopes alive. It's a testament to his resilience and the confidence his team has in him to deliver in high-pressure moments.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentThis is game one of the divisional series between the Rangers and the Orioles.
The Rangers have a one-run lead, bottom of the eighth,
and Chapman's going to come in and bend but not break
and not throw, like, any strikes.
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Let's get into it.
I know it's a couple days ago, but I edited this a while ago,
and I think it's funny.
So Chapman comes in, and he's just outside and away with the slider.
That's a ball.
And then I believe he tries a fastball.
No, another slider outside and away.
And then maybe a fastball here.
Low.
He just can't locate anything.
3-0.
Tries for a fastball again.
Outside, away, can't finish.
The Orioles fans are excited.
The leadoff runner's on.
Bochy's like, what's going on here?
Let me drink this in a little bit.
Fastball, up.
So he got it over but not down.
Slider, away.
He gets the called strike there.
And I think it did clip, but it's as close as you can get to not being a strike.
Uh-oh.
That's the splitter.
The first one.
He threw of the inning.
And the only one.
He doesn't go back to it.
He got cocky after he got the strike on the slider.
He finally had a strike on the batter.
He's like, all right, now let me throw my secret weapon, the splitter.
And he just spikes it.
And Haim has to go run after it.
And that puts the runner on second base.
So the Orioles have the tying run on second base.
Look at the splitter grip here by Chapman.
I don't know how you could control that.
It's basically a forkball.
What it does is it comes out and just knuckles a little and drops.
And that was a bad one.
The 2-1.
Fastball again.
Low.
So now you've got a 3-1 count.
And another slider.
And low.
Looks at his fingers like, what's going on?
He's like, I don't know.
Bochy walks over to his pitching coach.
And they're just looking at each other.
And he says, right now, we've got to get somebody going.
He's like, OK.
Well, yeah, 2-on, no out, not looking good.
Next pitch.
Fastball right down the middle.
99 miles per hour.
Poured it in.
But he's getting on the phone and getting someone going.
So now he's confident.
Let's do another.
Another one.
That one's below the zone.
A great scoop by a third baseman to start a double play in the Orioles.
They move the runner over, but they squander a big inning.
Oh, keeps the glove down quick with the transfer.
I love looking at the grip and then how they get it into a throwing grip
and a little sidearm motion.
Simeon catches it high.
He's going to come down with it.
Nice with the transfer.
Right into his fingertips and over to first where he sticks it.
Double play.
Oh, another first pitch strike.
So the two batters in a row, two first pitch strikes with the fastball.
That was on 100 miles per hour.
That's what he has been hoping to do.
0-1.
Is he going to do that again?
Eh, 1-0-1.
Low.
Got a little too geared up.
Shakes off that pitch.
Doesn't want it.
The 1-1.
Low again.
100.
Come on, man.
2-1.
He's going to go slider here.
Fouled away.
Now, that might have been in the zone for a strike.
I'm not sure.
I think game day has it out, but maybe the ump calls it.
And that's a nasty combination, those two pitches.
The fastball and the slider.
You can see how when he's on, it would be very hard to figure those out
because the slider comes out really fast.
2-2 pitch.
Up top with the fastball.
And he freezes and stares like he did amazing.
And maybe he did.
Eyes light up but swings through the high fastball.
D'oh!
D'oh!
That is how Chapman got into trouble and out of trouble
by throwing really only two pitches that were strikes.
But got out of it.
That's all you need sometimes.
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