PHOENIX — With a run in and a runner on first with no outs, Aroldis Chapman was holding Game 3 — and perhaps the Texas Rangers' World Series title hopes — in his oversized left hand in the eighth inning Monday night.
Arizona Diamondbacks pinch-hitter greeted Chapman with a leadoff double and scored on Geraldo Perdomo's single to pull the D-backs to within two runs with no outs.
At the plate stood D-backs NL Rookie of the Year candidate Corbin Carroll, who has 16 postseason hits. Chapman sized him up on the mound.
Chapman had blown an eighth-inning hold to the D-backs in April when he was still pitching for the Royals. The next day, Chapman nearly blew another lead for the Royals when the D-backs scored twice (one earned run) on three hits. The first hit he allowed came on a seven-pitch at-bat by Carroll. Chapman threw him four sliders and a fastball before Carroll reached on an infield single on a slider down and away.
On Monday, Chapman flooded Carroll with five consecutive 99-mph-or-higher four-seam fastballs. The fourth fastball zipped in at 100.5 mph but was way high out of the zone. Carroll fouled off the fifth fastball to stay alive with a 2-2 count. That's when Chapman dropped in an 89.4-mph slider right over the heart of the plate.
Carroll had to be expecting another fastball. He froze. Home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez called strike 3. One out.
"I think it was very effective. After throwing him at least four or five fastballs, he wasn’t expecting that pitch in that moment right there," Chapman said.
He wasn't out of the woods yet. Ketel Marte, who homered off Chapman to force extra innings in a regular-season game in August at Chase Field, was coming to the plate. That August blast came on the first pitch Marte saw, a 92-mph center-cut split-fingered fastball.
Monday night, representing the tying run, Marte stepped into the box and again ripped at Chapman's first pitch, a 100.8-mph fastball that Marte blasted toward shortstop Corey Seager with an exit velocity of 114.4 mph. Seager made the stop to his left, and quickly sent a back-handed toss to Marcus Semien, who fired to first for an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.
"I felt very good, happy to get out of the inning there," Chapman said. "We’re there to help each other out."
Jose Leclerc pitched a perfect ninth to earn the save as the Rangers claimed a 2-1 edge in the series with a 3-1 win.
"I think we feel good. We don’t necessarily feel confident or anything, we went ahead in the series but it’s not something we’re taking for granted and we’re not thinking we’re sure to win," Chapman said.
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