Giants third baseman Chapman appeals 1-game suspension handed down by MLB after incident in Colorado

DENVER (AP) — San Francisco third baseman Matt Chapman is appealing a one-game suspension handed down Wednesday by Major League Baseball along with an undisclosed fine after he made contact with Colorado pitcher Kyle Freeland in a game a night earlier.

Chapman, Freeland and Giants shortstop Willy Adames all were ejected following the first-inning fracas during San Francisco's 7-4 win at Coors Field, then Chapman led the Giants past the Rockies 10-8 on Wednesday night.

“The moment I talked to Matt, he wanted to play today regardless, so it was an easy call,” manager Bob Melvin said postgame. “And thank goodness he played.”

In the second inning, Chapman homered off Germán Márquez to put the Giants ahead 1-0. Chapman connected for a three-run shot in the sixth and a 9-5 lead, after Melvin was ejected in the bottom of the fifth for arguing balls and strikes.

Freeland, Adames and Rafael Devers also were fined for their involvement in what became a benches-clearing incident that started after Devers hit a towering two-run homer in the first inning and admired it before beginning his slow trot.

“Look, we didn’t feel like we started it. It is what it is, deal with it going forward. We’ll see what happens in the appeal. The other ones were fines," Melvin said. "You knew something was going to happen. We were hoping there weren’t suspensions. Ended up being one, and it’s on appeal, so see where that goes.”

Devers crushed a sweeper over the right field wall and then Freeland took exception with Devers’ celebration, prompting both players to shout at each other.

“He watched it for a while, longer than than Kyle liked. Kyle took offense to it, felt disrespected. I back him 100% on that," Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said Wednesday. "He didn’t like it. Had to say a few words to him, went after him a little bit, benches cleared. Sometimes that stuff happens in baseball. ... In today’s game, a lot of people think let the kids play. But that kind of goes out the window when you have a competitor who takes offense to something happening, especially in his own ballpark. I back him. Hopefully it’s over with, but it’s a moment in time that I’m glad it’s done.”

Several players charged toward the infield, and MLB said Chapman was disciplined for “pushing” Freeland. Adames also was in the middle of the scrum.

Chapman's suspension had been set to be served Wednesday night as the series resumes, but will wait until the appeal process is complete.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

San Francisco Giants third base coach Matt Williams, left, congratulates Matt Chapman, as he circles the bases after hitting a solo home run off Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Germán Márquez in the second inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

San Francisco Giants' Willy Adames, right, congratulates Matt Chapman (26) as he returns to the dugout after hitting a solo home run off Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Germán Márquez in the second inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Colorado Rockies' Orlando Arcia, center left, walks San Francisco Giants' Rafael Devers away from a scuffle between Colorado starting pitcher Kyle Freeland and Devers following his two-run home run in the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin, center left, walks Rafael Devers away from a scuffle that started after Dever's two-run home run off Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Kyle Freeland in the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Kyle Freeland yells at San Francisco Giants' Rafael Devers after his two-run home run in the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi, left, holds back Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Kyle Freeland as he yells at San Francisco Giants' Rafael Devers after his two-run home run in the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

BEIJING (AP) — In China, the names of things are often either ornately poetic or jarringly direct. A new, wildly popular app among young Chinese people is definitively the latter.

It's called, simply, “Are You Dead?"

In a vast country whose young people are increasingly on the move, the new, one-button app — which has taken the country by digital storm this month — is essentially exactly what it says it is. People who live alone in far-off cities and may be at risk — or just perceived as such by friends or relatives — can push an outsized green circle on their phone screens and send proof of life over the network to a friend or loved one. The cost: 8 yuan (about $1.10).

It's simple and straightforward — essentially a 21st-century Chinese digital version of those American pendants with an alert button on them for senior citizens that gave birth to the famed TV commercial: “I've fallen, and I can't get up!”

Developed by three young people in their 20s, “Are You Dead?” became the most downloaded paid app on the Apple App Store in China last week, according to local media reports. It is also becoming a top download in places as diverse as Singapore and the Netherlands, Britain and India and the United States — in line with the developers' attitude that loneliness and safety aren't just Chinese issues.

“Every country has young people who move to big cities to chase their dreams,” Ian Lü, 29, one of the app's developers, said Thursday.

Lü, who worked and lived alone in the southern city of Shenzhen for five years, experienced such loneliness himself. He said the need for a frictionless check-in is especially strong among introverts. “It's unrealistic,” he said, “to message people every day just to tell them you're still alive.”

Against the backdrop of modern and increasingly frenetic Chinese life, the market for the app is understandable.

Traditionally, Chinese families have tended to live together or at least in close proximity across generations — something embedded deep in the nation's culture until recent years. That has changed in the last few decades with urbanization and rapid economic growth that have sent many Chinese to join what is effectively a diaspora within their own nation — and taken hundreds of millions far from parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles.

Today, the country has more than 100 million households with only one person, according to an annual report from the National Bureau of Statistics of China in 2024.

Consider Chen Xingyu, 32, who has lived on her own for years in Kunming, the capital of southern China’s Yunnan province. “It is new and funny. The name ’Are You Dead?' is very interesting,” Chen said.

Chen, a “lying flat” practitioner who has rejected the grueling, fast-paced career of many in her age group, would try the app but worries about data security. “Assuming many who want to try are women users, if information of such detail about users gets leaked, that’d be terrible,” she said.

Yuan Sangsang, a Shanghai designer, has been living on her own for a decade and describes herself as a “single cow and horse.” She's not hoping the app will save her life — only help her relatives in the event that she does, in fact, expire alone.

"I just don’t want to die with no dignity, like the body gets rotten and smelly before it is found," said Yuan, 38. “That would be unfair for the ones who have to deal with it.”

While such an app might at first seem best suited to elderly people — regardless of their smartphone literacy — all reports indicate that “Are You Dead?” is being snapped up by younger people as the wry equivalent of a social media check-in.

“Some netizens say that the 'Are you dead?' greeting feels like a carefree joke between close friends — both heartfelt and gives a sense of unguarded ease,” the business website Yicai, the Chinese Business Network, said in a commentary. ""It likely explains why so many young people unanimously like this app."

The commentary, by writer He Tao, went further in analyzing the cultural landscape. He wrote that the app's immediate success “serves as a darkly humorous social metaphor, reminding us to pay attention to the living conditions and inner world of contemporary young people. Those who downloaded it clearly need more than just a functional security measure; they crave a signal of being seen and understood.”

Death is a taboo subject in Chinese culture, and the word itself is shunned to the point where many buildings in China have no fourth floor because the word for “four” and the word for “death” sound the same — “si.” Lü acknowledged that the app's name sparked public pressure.

“Death is an issue every one of us has to face,” he said. “Only when you truly understand death do you start thinking about how long you can exist in this world, and how you want to realize the value of your life.”

A few days ago, though, the developers said on their official account on China’s Weibo social platform that they’d pivot to a new name. Their choice: the more cryptic “Demumu,” which they said they hoped could "serve more solo dwellers globally.”

Then, a twist: Late Wednesday, the app team posted on its Weibo account that workshopping the name Demumu didn’t turn out “as well as expected.” The app team is offering a reward for whoever offers a new name that will be picked this weekend. Lü said more than 10,000 people have weighed in.

The reward for the new moniker: $96 — or, in China, 666 yuan.

Fu Ting reported from Washington. AP researcher Shihuan Chen in Beijing contributed.

The app Are You Dead? is seen on a smartphone in Beijing, China, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A woman looks at her smartphone in a cafe in Beijing, China, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A woman looks at her smartphone outside a restaurant in Beijing, China, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A man looks down near his smartphone in Beijing, China, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A man reacts while holding his smartphone in Beijing, China, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)