Matt Chapman on heated exchange with John Schneider: “I’m competitive and I just want to win baseball games”
By Cam Lewis
1 month agoThe Shohei Ohtani Show came as advertised on Friday night in Toronto and Matt Chapman wasn’t happy about it.
The two-way superstar of the Los Angeles Angels came into this weekend’s series with the Blue Jays red hot, as he pitched a complete game shutout and smashed two home runs during a doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday.
In his first at-bat against the Blue Jays, Ohtani launched a solo home run off of Kevin Gausman to put the Angels up by a score of 1-0. It was his 39th home run of the season, which leads baseball by a pretty wide margin.
Not long after the home run, the Apple+ broadcast panned its camera into the Blue Jays dugout and caught a heated interaction between Chapman and manager John Schneider. His voice wasn’t audible but it was clear that Chapman was voicing his displeasure that Schneider didn’t have Gausman pitch around Los Angeles’ best player.
The solo homer from Ohtani ended up being the only run that the Angels scored in the game. Chapman channelled his frustration into a solo home run in the second inning and Danny Jansen and Whit Merrifield both went yard to lead the Blue Jays to a 4-1 win.
After the game, Chapman said that he could have handled the situation better but that he’s a competitive player who got caught up in the moment.
“I go out there every day and I want to win,” Chapman said. “I get passionate sometimes. Obviously, I think there’s better ways to handle things, but it’s a thing where you get caught up in the moment and you get a little bit frustrated. For me, personally, I probably could have handled it better, but it comes from a good place. I’m competitive. I just want to win baseball games. It’s nothing negative or anything like that. Sometimes I just get fired up.”
These types of things happen often in baseball, they just aren’t always caught on the broadcast for everybody to see. The Blue Jays have played a lot of tight, competitive games lately and this series with the Angels has a playoff atmosphere to it, so there’s nothing wrong with Chapman getting heated.
ARTICLE PRESENTED BY BETANO
Recent articles from Cam Lewis
