101st 1st innings ever, 4K Chapman enters ERA in 0 points range! Are all indicators aimed at FA bullpen biggest a LAD?

Sep 08, 2025

101st 1st innings ever, 4K Chapman enters ERA in 0 points range! Are all indicators aimed at FA bullpen biggest a LAD?
Boston Red Sox Aroldis Chapman. AFP Yonhap News



He's old enough to finish his career, but he still comes out to finish the game and overpowers the opponent with a fiery fastball. The ball is faster and more powerful than most young guns in their 20s.

It's the story of Boston Red Sox left-hander Aroldis Chapman. Born in February 1988, he is 37 years old this year and is in his 16th big league season.

Chapman made 29 saves of the season by lowering his ERA to zero. Chapman took the mound in the top of the ninth inning with a 7-4 lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on the 8th (Korea time) and struck out all four batters to secure a three-run victory.




You can ask how you can raise four strikeouts in one inning, but it is a possible scenario if a strikeout or not-out situation occurs.

In the top of the ninth inning with two outs and runners on the first and second bases, Nick Sogard hit a double to cut the left-center gap, bringing both runners to take a 6-4 lead, and adding one run to Carlos Nabaez's timely hit to the right to widen the gap by three points.

With his save in the ninth inning, Chapman took the mound as the team's fourth pitcher.




Chapman, who struck out Blaze Alexander with an 84.5-mile slider that dropped to the low course in the middle of the fifth pitch in the ball count of 1B2S, induced Vargas to swing and miss by lowering his 91.7-mile splitter on the sixth pitch in 1B2S, but he allowed the first base to advance with a strikeout not-out as a wild pitch.

Chapman, however, secured the victory by striking out Tyler Locklear with an 86.1-mile slider toward his body and striking out Jordan Lawler with a 97.4-mile sinker that missed the sixth pitch from the full count.

101st 1st innings ever, 4K Chapman enters ERA in 0 points range! Are all indicators aimed at FA bullpen biggest a LAD?
Aroldis Chapman and catcher Carlos Navaez. AFP Yonhap News
Chapman threw 23 pitches. He used nine sinkers, eight sliders, three splitters and three fastballs, with sinker constraints of up to 99.6 miles and an average of 97.4 miles, 2.1 miles slower than the season average. There was no ball more than 100 miles, but he struck out all four Atlanta right-handed hitters with a ball mix that took away the timing and a low corner walk.




Chapman's '4 strikeouts in one inning on the day are his first and 101st in history. It is the second time this season after St. Louis Cardinals Stephen Martz on June 20.

Four strikeouts in one inning have been achieved 64 times, or 63.4 percent of the total, since 2000. In the 21st century, Major League Baseball has become more inclined to strike out rather than guess, so it can be said that the frequency of four strikeouts in one inning has increased. The average nine-inning strikeouts per team has steadily increased to 4.8 in 1980, 5.7 in 1990, 6.5 in 2000, 7.1 in 2010 and 9.1 in 2020.

In a 2014 MLB.com interview in which he achieved the record for the second time in his life, Jack Gracie said "I was completely oblivious to the record today. I still couldn't throw it the way I wanted it to, and I was focused on not being a big inning." It is said that most pitchers find out about achieving the record after throwing with the same feeling as Greinke.

101st 1st innings ever, 4K Chapman enters ERA in 0 points range! Are all indicators aimed at FA bullpen biggest a LAD?
Aroldis Chapman has been on a scoreless streak for the last 17 consecutive games. AP Yonhap News
This lowered Chapman's ERA from 1.00 to 0.98 while making 29 saves for the season. It has been scoreless in 17 consecutive games and 14 ⅔ innings. Chapman is the only pitcher with a 0-point ERA among 115 pitchers who have recorded more than two saves this season. The save ranking is fourth in the AL.

In addition, Chapman ranks first among 21 players with more than five saves in both WHIP (0.64) and hit rate (0.113). He struck out 81 in 55 innings while allowing only 14 walks. In other words, Chapman is the most stable and overwhelming pitcher among the pitchers specializing in saves.

He signed a one-year contract with Boston last winter for $10.75 million. After this season, chances are high that it will be in the spotlight again in the FA market. Chapman will continue to throw fastballs with an average speed of 98.4 miles and a sinker average speed of 99.5 miles this season. It is very likely that the LA Dodgers, who are unstable in the bullpen, will be greedy. Although Chapman went to the FA market every year after the 2022 season, he did not have a connection with the Dodgers.

Chapman is the fastest 105.8 miles of fastball in major league history.





This article was translated by Naver AI translator.