Aroldis Chapman, a flame-throwing relief pitcher, was one of the Texas Rangers‘ main trade deadline acquisitions a few weeks ago.
Chapman has had a 2.57 ERA in 21 innings with Texas, a good performance on the surface.
However, history has shown that pressure situations are not where he usually thrives.
On Wednesday, he entered the game against the New York Mets in the tenth inning of a tied game.
The ghost runner clearly didn’t help matters, but Chapman didn’t have it from the start.
He intentionally walked Pete Alonso to have a smoother path at forced outs.
However, he then walked Francisco Alvarez to load the bases and hit DJ Stewart with a pitch to end the game in the Mets’ favor.
Chapman, according to Codify Baseball, now has three blown saves in his last five appearances.
That's 3 blown saves for Aroldis Chapman in his last 5 games. 😐pic.twitter.com/Khsiwpa5Tb
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) August 31, 2023
The most painful part, for Rangers fans, is that they are no longer in first place of the AL West, a position they held for months.
The Seattle Mariners and the Houston Astros are tied at the top, and the Rangers are now one game behind.
Chapman is, plain and simple, not the most reliable pitcher to hold a lead.
Even in the Chicago Cubs’ 2016 World Series run, he was called upon in the eighth inning of Game 7 to protect a three-run lead and blew the save after conceding a two-run homer to Rajai Davis.
Three years later, with the New York Yankees, he became famous for surrendering Jose Altuve’s series-clinching home run in Game 6 of the ALCS.
Chapman also conceded Mike Brosseau’s walk-off home run in Game 5 of the 2020 ALDS that Tampa Bay won.
He racks up numbers, excellent ERAs, and strikeout totals.
However, in crunch time, he is not the most reliable arm.
NEXT: The Rangers Finally Snapped Their Losing Skid
