Blue Jays' Matt Chapman lays into manager John Schneider for pitching to Shohei Ohtani
The Toronto Blue Jays were able to pick up a 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday, but that wasn’t the main storyline of this game.
With just one out in the first inning, Shohei Ohtani stepped up to the plate to face Kevin Gausman. Given how dominant Ohtani has been all season long, some thought they would intentionally walk him in this situation. Manager John Schneider elected to pitch to him, however, and it didn’t go well for the Blue Jays.
Shohei Ohtani has homered in three straight at-bats! pic.twitter.com/IdFHCnDgGr
— MLB (@MLB) July 28, 2023
The home run marked Ohtani’s third over his last three at-bats and made Blue Jays third baseman Matt Chapman furious. After Gausman recorded two more outs to end the inning, Chapman was seen in the dugout having a very intense talk with Schneider regarding the decision to pitch to baseball’s best player.
Matt Chapman to the Blue Jays manager after the Shohei Ohtani homer:
āWhy did we pitch to him? Heās the only fāing guy on the team that can hitā
— Ben Verlander (@BenVerlander) July 29, 2023
“Why did we pitch to him? He’s the only f*cking guy on the team that can hit,” Chapman appeared to say to Schneider.
Thankfully for Schneider, Chapman, and the rest of the Blue Jays, it was the only mistake made on the night, allowing them to pick up their 58th win of the season. Afterward, Chapman downplayed the incident caught on camera with his manager.
“I probably could have handled it better but it comes from a good place. I’m competitive,” Chapman told reporters. “I just want to win baseball games. It’s nothing negative or anything like that. Sometimes I just get fired up.”
More Matt Chapman: āI could probably have handled it better but it comes from a good place. Iām competitive and I just want to win baseball games. Sometimes I get fired up."
— Rob Longley (@longleysunsport) July 29, 2023
Chapman was able to back up his frustrations the very next inning, as he hit a solo home run himself, which at the time tied the game up at one apiece. The 30-year-old is having a very good season, batting .262 with 14 home runs and 44 RBIs.
With yesterday’s win, the Blue Jays were able to pull even with the Houston Astros for the second wild card position in the AL. They will look to take sole position of second place later today as they get set to play their second game of their three-game series versus the Angels at 3:07 pm ET.
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