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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Andrew Joseph

The Blue Jays decided to intentionally walk Shohei Ohtani four times after Matt Chapman’s outburst

Shohei Ohtani’s pursuit of 62 home runs this season has been especially remarkable when you consider that he’s doing so with very little protection in the lineup. Mike Trout has been hurt, and Mickey Moniak is the only other Angels hitter batting above .300.

Teams generally haven’t pitched around Ohtani, but Blue Jays third baseman Matt Chapman was tired of seeing his team take that chance.

After Ohtani hit a home run in his first at-bat of Friday’s game in Toronto, broadcast cameras picked up footage of Chapman confronting manager John Schneider in the dugout. His message was basically: Why are we pitching to him? He’s the only one in that lineup who can hit.

Chapman was asked about that confrontation after the game, and he said that it came from a good place.

And since that scene in the dugout, the Blue Jays have generally heeded the message. In Saturday’s game, Ohtani was hit by a pitch in his first at-bat. After hitting a double in his second at-bat, Ohtani was intentionally walked in the next two plate appearances.

In Sunday’s game, they Blue Jays pitched to Ohtani in his first two at-bats. But after a single in the third inning, Ohtani was intentionally walked in his next plate appearance.

They walked him a fourth time in the ninth inning after a passed ball.

Now, it makes sense for the Blue Jays to challenge another Angels hitter to beat them. But at the same time, it’s kind of lame to avoid pitching to Ohtani. He had only been intentionally walked eight times heading into the series. So, hopefully the Blue Jays didn’t start a trend of Ohtani getting the Barry Bonds treatment from pitchers.

Fans certainly blamed Chapman for all the intentional walks, though.

This was how Twitter reacted

It seemed to work. The Blue Jays took the first two games of the series.

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