When The Pirates Hit Aroldis Chapman
Before Thursday, Aroldis Chapman had allowed one run in 2012. It was unearned. He was tied for the league's best ERA, at 0.00, he had the league's best FIP, at 0.48, and he had the league's best strikeout rate, at 49.1 percent.
Before Thursday, Clint Barmes had been the third-least productive hitter in baseball among guys with 150 plate appearances. He owned a .211 OBP and a .305 slugging percentage.
Barmes and Chapman met Thursday, in the tenth inning of a game.
That was a 91 mile-per-hour slider. Then, immediately following Barmes, Michael McKenry did this against a 99 mile-per-hour fastball. Both Barmes and McKenry doubled in two-strike counts. McKenry entered the day batting .185. The run was the first earned run Chapman has allowed since September 10, 2011.
Chapman finished the inning by sandwiching a pop-up between two swinging strikeouts. The Pirates didn't do a lot of damage. But they did some damage, which is more than any other Chapman opponent could say in 2012.
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