BOSTON — For the second time in 24 hours, the Red Sox turned to a pitcher other than Aroldis Chapman to seal a close game in the ninth. It doesn’t mean Chapman is hurt, however.
One day after Greg Weissert recorded the save in a 4-3 win over the Yankees, it was righty Garrett Whitlock who picked up his first save of the season in Sunday’s 2-0 win. After getting a massive double play off the bat of Aaron Judge to end an eighth-inning threat, Whitlock needed just 12 pitches to get through a 1-2-3 ninth. Cody Bellinger grounded out before Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Anthony Volpe both struck out to end the game.
Manager Alex Cora said Whitlock got the opportunity over Chapman because the left-handed fireballer was deemed unavailable for two days after pitching Friday. Chapman had pitched five times in seven days before getting the weekend off.
“We decided after Friday we were going to give him two days off because usage was way up there,” Cora said. “He’ll be back tomorrow.”
Chapman pitched the final two games in New York over the weekend, saving both games, then went for a third straight day in the 10th inning of Monday’s loss to the Rays. He didn’t pitch Tuesday (Weissert got the save in that one) but closed out Wednesday’s win, then threw 14 pitches Friday. At that point, the Red Sox decided to give him a breather.
Luckily, both Weissert and Whitlock have been pitching well enough for Cora to trust them in big spots. Since blowing back-to-back saves on a mid-May road trip to Kansas City in Detroit, Whitlock has been lights-out, posting a 0.66 ERA (1 earned run in 13 ⅔ innings) in his last 11 games. In that span, he has allowed just eight hits and recorded 16 strikeouts. He has gone more than one inning five times.
“He has been good for a while now, throwing a lot of strikes,” Cora said. “The fastball has life, he’s throwing strikes against righties which is the most important thing. And we trust him.”