Cuba’s Chapman Wins First for Reds

HAVANA TIMES, Sept. 1 — Aroldis Chapman picked up his first Major League Baseball victory for the Cincinnati Reds against the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night, in his second day up from the minors.  To get it he repeated his one inning scoreless relief effort of Tuesday.

Chapman needed only 11 pitches to retire the side in order in the top of the seventh, striking out two.  His team rallied for six runs in the bottom of the inning to erase a 1-0 deficit and give the $30 million dollar contract 22-year old his first win.  The final score was 6-1.

The Cuban has pitched during his first season in the US with the AAA Louisville farm club and was called up with the expanded rosters permitted for the stretch drive of the big circuit.

The left-hander’s fast ball has been clocked as high as 105 MPH.  Two of his pitches on Wednesday clocked 104 MPH on the radar gun.

In the Cuban league Chapman pitched for the Holguin squad in the northeast of the island.