Marcelo Mayer Gushes Over Aroldis Chapman After Red Sox's Opening Day Win

Marcelo Mayer Gushes Over Aroldis Chapman After Red Sox's Opening Day Win originally appeared on NESN . Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here . The Boston Red Sox kicked off the 2026 campaign with a 3-0 shutout victory over the Cincinnati Reds.

Marcelo Mayer provided a spark for the Sox off the bench in this one, but after the game, he opted to highlight his veteran teammate Aroldis Chapman, who came on in the ninth inning and shut the door on his former team. Chapman broke into the majors back in 2010 as a flamethrowing lefty who took the league by storm. Now in his 17th year in the league, Chapman has reinvented himself, and he is fresh off arguably the best season of his career in 2025.

Chapman picked up right where he left off on Thursday afternoon, and he earned some high praise from Mayer in the process. "He's the hardest worker I've ever seen, and it's not even close," Mayer said of Chapman in a post-game interview with Jon Morosi of MLB Network. "He was in the league when I was a little kid in elementary school, and to see that he still loves it and still gets after it the way that he does, it's super motivating and inspirational.

" Last season, Chapman posted a minuscule 1. 17 ERA over 61. 1 innings pitched, while also racking up 32 saves for Boston.