Aroldis Chapman Injury: Dealing with tight back

Chapman (back) was removed in the eighth inning of Sunday's 4-3 win over the Dodgers due to back tightness, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com reports.

Chapman took the hill to begin the eighth inning and issued a pair of walks and induced a Shohei Ohtani flyout before being removed from the contest. The 37-year-old was apparently dealing with a tight back, which likely explains why his average four-seam fastball velocity was about four ticks behind his season-long average during the outing. The back issue wasn't something that manager Alex Cora wasn't overly worried about, noting that he expects the closer to avoid a trip to the injured list. That being said, the Red Sox may look to stay away from using Chapman for the next day or two to give him extra time to heal up from the back issue.