CINCINNATI — Brock Holt didn’t get into the game until the seventh inning, and when he finally stepped to the plate in the 86th All-Star Game last night, he had to face the triple-digit fastball of Cincinnati Reds closer Aroldis Chapman.
Talk about unfair.
“As soon as I made the team, I kind of figured I would face Chapman,” said Holt, the Red Sox’ lone All-Star. “I was trying to get mentally prepared for that about a week ago, but it still didn’t help me out.”
Indeed, Holt faced five pitches — clocked at 99, 101, 100, 101 and 101 mph, according to the readings on the Great American Ball Park radar gun — and struck out in his only at-bat in a 6-3 victory that earned the American League home-field advantage in the World Series.