Aroldis Chapman throws hitless ninth for 24th save

Chapman walked the first two batters he faced, only to strike out three in a row afterwards. Chapman is tied with David Bednar for fifth in the majors in saves. They’re six behind fellow AL East closer Bryan Baker.

Chapman, the ninth pitcher in major league history with 400 saves, reached back and found 101 on his final pitch, striking out Christian Encarnacion-Strand. He saved three of Boston’s four wins in Baltimore. He’ll probably be down Monday after this, which could lead to a save chance for Garrett Whitlock.

Chapman locked down the save against the Orioles on Friday night, retiring the side in order while recording one strikeout. It was his 32nd save of the season. Chapman now has 399 career saves and with one more he’ll become the ninth pitcher in MLB history to join the 400 saves club.

Christian Encarnacion-Strand took Chapman deep in a three-run game. It was the third homer allowed by Chapman in 46 2/3 innings this season, but it didn’t stop him from picking up save No. 398 of his career.

Interim manager Chad Tracy made what we would argue was a bad call after getting Chapman up with the Red Sox down 8-7 in the eighth, only to stick with Alec Gamboa in the top of the ninth. That was especially the case after Gamboa gave up a leadoff triple. Gamboa, though, escaped to keep the deficit at one before the offense came back and tied the game, and Chapman stranded the automatic runner in the 10th, after which the Red Sox won in the bottom of the inning.

Chapman was summoned to protect a two-run lead in the final frame and managed to work around a leadoff single by Owen Caissie to preserve the win. The 38-year-old veteran has notched three saves in the last four days and is just three shy of 400 for his career. He’s recorded back-to-back 30-save campaigns for the Red Sox as his unexpected late-career renaissance shows zero signs of slowing down. He joins Mariano Rivera, Trevor Hoffman and Lee Smith as the only relievers with 10 seasons in which they compiled 30-plus saves. Unreal.

Chapman has two saves in three days after going 19 days without one. The save today was the 396th of his career.

Chapman made things a bit interesting as he issued a one-out walk to Buddy Kennedy to bring the tying run to the plate, but he rebounded to strike out Christian Koss and Jonah Cox to end it. He has now converted 28 of his first 30 save chances on the season while posting a minuscule 1.92 ERA and a 56/20 K/BB ratio across 42 2/3 innings of work.

That was after Garrett Whitlock took a blown save for giving up the tying run in the eighth. Chapman got two quick outs to start the ninth but then gave up a single, a steal on what should have been a pickoff and a go-ahead double. The pickoff wasn’t converted into an out because Chapman was fairly slow getting the ball to Willson Contreras and then Contreras made a bad throw to second. Chapman warmed up to come into Saturday’s game and threw 23 pitches today, so he might be down Monday. Whitlock should be available to close.

Chase Meidroth hit the go-ahead homer with the automatic runner on base for one earned and one unearned run. It was just the second homer Chapman has allowed in 38 2/3 innings this season. The Red Sox went on pick him up in the bottom of the 10th, so he avoided a fourth loss.