WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Before Wednesday, it had been 48 days — and 42 Red Sox games — since Aroldis Chapman had allowed a hit. All the while, the end of the streak was inevitable.
Chapman’s dominant six-week run that included 14 ⅔ hitless innings over 17 appearances dating back to July 23 ended with a thud Wednesday in the ninth inning. Throwing to a new catcher in third-string backstop Ali Sánchez, Chapman left a 1-2 splitter over the outside part of the plate and Shea Langeliers laced a 103.2 mph double to lead off the inning. After not allowing a hit to 50 consecutive batters, Chapman was in trouble.
The next batter, Brent Rooker, lifted a fly ball to right field as Langeliers scampered to third. Then, Lawrence Butler won a left-on-left matchup — and the game — getting a 1-2 fastball in the middle of the zone and shooting it the other way for a walk-off single that handed the Athletics a 5-4 win.
“I gave up two hard hits and we got walked off,” Chapman said matter-of-factly (through interpreter Carlos Villoria Benítez).
Chapman suffered his first loss since May 14. It was just the second time he had given up two hits all season, with the other instance coming May 27 in Milwaukee. A streak that had started after Chapman allowed a game-tying homer to J.T. Realmuto in Philadelphia and had included 21 strikeouts — including four Sunday — and just four walks was over. It would have been fair to think it would never end.
“It’s part of it. Turn the page,” said manager Alex Cora. “At one point, he was gonna give it up and it just happened that it was today.”
Chapman has allowed runs in just eight of his 61 appearances, with five of those outings coming before the end of May. He has allowed hits in just 21 games — and only 23 all year. Wednesday was just the fifth time all season he had been charged with a loss or blown save.
“There are bad moments,” said Chapman. “Today, I got the loss. But we’ve got to keep going.”
With 16 games to go and the Red Sox in good position to make the postseason, the most important thing regarding Chapman is to keep him healthy for October — and next season, now that he has signed a one-year, $13.3 million extension for 2026. At 55 ⅓ innings, he’s 6 ⅔ frames short of his total from an up-and-down 2024 season in Pittsburgh.
The Red Sox know Chapman won’t be perfect the rest of the way. They’ll be plenty happy if he’s close.
“Part of the good results is that mentality and the hard work I put in during this time,” Chapman said. “I feel like that showed up.”
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