Matt Chapman’s talent has never been in question. His health, and production over the past several months, have led to questions. But there was something different about the way he looked Friday night, even in the hours before he scored the winning run with a fantastic slide on Elvis Andrus’ opposite-field single in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the A’s a 4-3 win over Kansas City.
The defense has been there all season. So when he sprinted about 100 feet to snag a foul pop by Andrew Benintendi before making a pretty nice headfirst slide after tripping over the bullpen mound, you could be forgiven for not giving it too much thought.
