CINCINNATI -- Brock Holt waited seven innings to get in the game, another to get an at-bat, and when he finally stepped to the plate in the 86th All-Star Game here Tuesday night, he had to face the triple-digit fastball of 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.