“Nobody makes me bleed my own blood….NOBODY!”
Those iconic words were uttered by White Goodman (played perfectly by Ben Stiller) in the 2004 comedy classic Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.
And as I watched the end of Wednesday’s Red Sox (81-66) game out in Sacramento, a game they lost 5-4, I couldn’t help but wonder if this is what closer Aroldis Chapman (4-3, 29 saves) was thinking to himself as the walk-off winner happened on his watch.
The ninth inning double by A’s catcher Shea Langeliers followed by the walk-off single by outfielder Lawrence Butler two batters later ballooned Chapman’s ERA on the season to a whopping 1.14 ERA (sarcasm, people), making him the losing pitcher for the first time since May 14. It’s only the second time this season he’s given up more than one hit in an outing.
But for the most notable nugget from Chapman’s losing effort yesterday, here’s NESN’s Dave O’Brien from yesterday’s telecast:
“...That incredible run of hitless appearances is over for Aroldis Chapman. He had not allowed a hit since the [JT] Realmuto home run at Philly on July 23. And finally, somebody gets him - 50 consecutive batters in between hits.”
With how spectacular Chapman has been in 2025, it was perfectly reasonable to expect the 37-year-old to bring Wednesday’s game into extra innings as he trotted out to the mound at Sutter Health Park. And when you consider the competition - a last-place A’s team on the brink of a sweep - it felt like a spot where the Terminator would come in and be his unstoppable self.
But for an afternoon in Sacramento, the Athletics (67-80) made Schwarzenegger’s T-800 look human.
“Turn the page - it’s part of it,” manager Alex Cora said postgame. “At one point [Chapman] was going to give it up, and it just happened it was today.”
In the grand scheme of things, it’s probably best that Chapman got that out of the way now as opposed to this weekend with the Yankees (80-65) coming to Fenway Park.
As of Thursday morning, New York is one percentage point ahead of Boston for the top wild card spot in the American League. And with the Red Sox idle on Thursday, the Yankees have the opportunity to go up by a half-game in the standings if they can avoid the sweep against Detroit (84-62).
This goes back to why I wrote on Monday that this series against the A’s was a must-win for Boston. And to be honest, I should have had the cojones to say it was a must-sweep situation given the way the rest of their schedule lines up to finish off September. I definitely thought it, wish I had written it.
But this loss, for me, doesn’t come down to Chapman. If I had to nitpick one thing from Wednesday, it’s Alex Cora’s decision at the top of the ninth to not pinch hit Romy Gonzalez for Nathaniel Lowe with a lefty on the mound.
The score was tied at 4-4, there were two outs, and the Red Sox had two men on with the lead runner in scoring position at second base.
If Gonzalez - in the midst of a 12-game hit streak and hitting lefties like 1927 Lou Gehrig this season - was actually day-to-day with left knee soreness, Cora should have recognized that this was a spot to ask his 29-year-old infielder to power through minor discomfort to help his team get a much-needed win towards the AL playoff picture. And with the team off on Thursday, this was an especially reasonable ask.
Instead, Gonzalez stayed on the bench, and Lowe flew out to right to end the inning.
I’m more pro-Cora than most, but I felt like this was a spot where the manager needed to be more aggressive. Unless, of course, Gonzalez is more injured than both he and Cora articulated postgame Tuesday.
If that’s the case, there’s a larger conversation to be had. And depending on how he’s deployed this weekend, we’ll get a better idea of where he’s at health wise.
All in all, Boston did what it had to do in its final west coast series of the regular season. They could’ve and should’ve done more. But as Cora likes to say, “This is where we’re at.”
Tom Carroll is a contributor for Roundtable, with boots-on-the-ground coverage of all things Boston sports. He's a digital content producer for WEEI.com, and a native of Lincoln, RI.