OAKLAND -- All of the odds seemed stacked against A's third baseman Matt Chapman as he strided to the plate representing the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday.
Chapman hadn't recorded a hit in his last 16 at-bats, and had just one in his last 31. To make matters worse, he was facing Brewers closer Josh Hader, arguably the most dominant pitcher in all of baseball.
The two squared off a handful of times in the minors, and once in the majors, but Chapman had never found any success.
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"Uh, nooooo," Chapman laughed Thursday. "I believe that was the first time I've ever put a ball in play off of him, so I'll take it."
That first time certainly came at the right time, as Chapman blasted a two-run go-ahead homer to dead center in the A's 5-3 win over the Brewers.
"It feels really good," Chapman said. "Obviously, the last couple of games haven't been going exactly as you'd draw it up. Hitting a few balls hard and not getting any love, but that's kind of how baseball goes. ... I just wanted to be ready and kind of put all that stuff behind me and just take a good at-bat right there. Luckily, I was able to help out."
Chapman didn't waste any time. The A's slugger jumped on the first pitch he saw -- a 95 mph fastball on the inner half of the plate -- and drilled it over the center-field wall at a blistering 106.4 mph.
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"I was trying to get a fastball in a good spot," Chapman explained. "He's a great pitcher. When he's ahead, he's tough to hit. So I was just trying to jump on something early -- just trying to get on base and help the team win."
Hader entered the game with a 2.25 ERA and 24 saves in 26 opportunities. The hard-throwing left-hander has already racked up 97 strikeouts in just 52 innings this season, and his rate of 16.6 punchouts per nine frames led the majors.
"He's one of the best pitchers in the big leagues," Chapman said. "On Tuesday night, he ended up striking me out right before Oly (Matt Olson) hit that walkoff. So I saw a lot of pitches, kind of saw what his ball was doing, so I had a good idea going into it what I wanted to do and was able to get a good pitch right there."
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The home run marked Chapman's 11th go-ahead blast of the season, tied for second-most in the AL. It was also his 11th homer in the seventh inning or later, which leads the American League.
"I definitely don't shy away from those moments," he said. "In the past, I haven't been able to clutch up sometimes. In the minor leagues or early in my career, I feel like I really tried to do way too much in those situations. So in those situations, I feel like I've been able to calm myself down and try to just stay in the moment and not do too much, and good things have happened."