SAN FRANCISCO — Matt Chapman won’t be suspended for his role in last week’s benches-clearing incident the Giants and Colorado Rockies, the team announced on Friday afternoon.
“We ended up not having to do the full hearing,” Chapman said. “They just offered a settlement. We took it and felt like it was a fair deal and move on.”
Chapman had a condensed hearing on Thursday to appeal a one-game suspension he received on Sept. 3, a day after the incident. On Friday, Major League Baseball downgraded Chapman’s punishment to an undisclosed find, which was also part of the original punishment.
“I had a lot of people in my corner trying to help me out, from the Giants to (agent Scott) Boras to a lot of people,” Chapman said.
Chapman effectively missed the entirety of the Giants’ win on Sept. 2 win over the Rockies at Coors Field after shoving Rockies pitcher Kyle Freeland. Freeland took exception to Rafael Devers’ admiration of his first-inning home run, igniting the benches-clearing episode.
Following the incident, Chapman was ejected from the game along with Freeland and Willy Adames. Chapman, however, was the only player who was suspended (Adames, Devers and Freeland received fines).
Chapman said he had a case prepared ahead of the hearing, stating how he didn’t start the incident and he was only trying to defend his teammate. He also pointed out that he essentially missed a game already, being ejected before he took an at-bat or played in the field. Despite his preparation, Chapman never had to make his case during the hearing.
“I think that probably helped that I missed the whole game already,” said Chapman, who has a .810 OPS with 21 home runs over 113 games this season. “I was the only person that got handed a suspension. After they looked at the film and reviewed it, I probably deserved to get the same punishment as other people.”
Said manager Bob Melvin: “Based on the fact nobody else got suspended for a day, we felt like there was a pretty good chance. … It seems like it’s the right thing.”
Chapman will hit fifth for the Giants as they begin a crucial weekend series with the NL West-leading Dodgers. Entering Friday, San Francisco are 1.5 games back of the New York Mets for the third and final wild-card spot.
“It’s a big one,” Chapman said. “Anytime we play the Dodgers it’s a big one, but we know what’s at stake there. They’re in first place, we’re battling for the wild card spot, they’re battling to stay in first place. Everybody’s got stuff on the line.
“We can’t get too far ahead of ourselves, but we need to treat each game like it’s a playoff game for us because it pretty much is. We’ve got to win a lot of games to go to where we want to go. Tonight’s a big one and we’re excited for the challenge.”
This three-game set at Oracle Park features three marquee pitching matchups. Justin Verlander will face Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Friday; Logan Webb and Clayton Kershaw will battle on Saturday; and Robbie Ray and Tyler Glasnow will finish the series on Sunday.
“They have a really good team. They have all year, and now they’re at full strength,” Melvin said. “We feel pretty good about the way we’re playing and we feel pretty good about our pitching matchups as well. As far as pitching matchups go, I don’t know that it gets better in a three-game series than the six names you see right now.”
Worth noting
Right-hander Landen Roupp (bone bruise in right knee) threw a 25-pitch bullpen today and will throw another bullpen in a few days.
Left-hander Erik Miller (left elbow sprain) will throw a bullpen tomorrow.