OAKLAND -- Two relievers warmed up in the A’s bullpen as James Kaprielian walked off the Coliseum mound after escaping a sixth-inning jam. But there was no chance he was handing the ball to manager Mark Kotsay just yet. Not with ultimate bragging rights on the line.

Wednesday’s series finale between the A’s and Blue Jays marked the first time Kaprielian was squaring off against his best friend and former teammate Matt Chapman in a Major League game. Chapman was due up next in Toronto’s batting order, and to that point, their showdown was deadlocked, with a deep flyout and five-pitch walk the results of their previous two encounters.

Afforded the chance to face his buddy a third time, Kaprielian began the seventh by dialing up four fastballs before throwing a 2-2 curveball that Chapman took just outside of the zone to reach a full count. At that moment, the battle truly commenced.

Kaprielian again revved it up with fastballs of 94.1 and 93.7 mph. Both were fouled off again. On the eighth and final pitch of the clash, it was Chapman who finally came out on top, crushing an elevated 3-2 fastball thrown at 93.6 mph into the left-field bleachers for a booming 415-foot solo homer, the only run allowed by Kaprielian in the A’s 2-1 loss to the Blue Jays.

“I’m sure they’re gonna have a lot to talk about the rest of this season and through the offseason on that battle,” Kotsay said. “They are good competitors and friends. Chappy’s got the upper hand right now in that conversation.”

Kaprielian dissected his outing after the game as an overall positive. Prior to Chapman’s homer, which marked his last batter faced, he’d worked six scoreless innings against a potent Toronto offense despite not having a good feel for his slider, which is often his go-to pitch in key moments to finish off hitters.

Entering the seventh, Kaprielian knew Chapman had been swinging late on fastballs throughout the game, so he again fed him a heavy dose of heaters hoping for a similar outcome. As soon as Chapman made contact, Kaprielian turned around and yelled in anger as he watched the ball travel into the left-field seats.

“I can’t walk him there,” Kaprielian said of the seventh-inning confrontation. “I’ve just got to make him beat me, and he did. His eyes were up there ready to hit that pitch. He hit a pitch that he was looking for.”

Though Wednesday was the first meeting between the two in a big league setting, Kaprielian and Chapman had opposed each other on the baseball field plenty before. The two engaged in legendary college matchups while Kaprielian attended UCLA and Chapman was at Cal State Fullerton.

“We played them in the Super Regionals to advance to the [2013] College World Series. Bruins beat the Titans,” Kaprielian said with a smirk following his start in Seattle last week. “We faced each other a couple of times, and he hasn’t got me yet.”

Of course, the origin of Kaprielian’s relationship with Chapman predates even their college years. Both Southern California natives, the two baseball standouts first met at a photo shoot for an all-Orange County baseball team both were selected to in high school.

Several years later, Kaprielian was traded to Oakland in 2017. Already offseason training partners, playing for the same organization brought them closer. When Kaprielian was called up briefly to the Majors in 2020 and again in 2021, Chapman invited him to live together in his San Francisco home, helping Kaprielian focus on what became a breakout rookie campaign last season.

“When it comes to housing, you don’t know how long you’re going to be there,” Kaprielian said. “I was fortunate to have someone like Chap. He was like, ‘Hey, I got a nice big house. Just come stay with me.’ He told me to focus on taking the ball every fifth day and proving I deserve to be here. That made it a lot easier.”

The two became so close that when Chapman planned his wedding this offseason, he asked Kaprielian to officiate the ceremony and serve as DJ for the celebration. Without hesitation, Kaprielian agreed to both.

“It was pretty sick,” Kaprielian said of Chapman’s wedding. “It was like funky house music. I had to keep everyone moving. Gotta get that after-party going.”

Both definitely amped up their competitive juices when facing off Wednesday, with Chapman and Kaprielian staring each other down after a flyout that reached the warning track in the third.

The A’s and Blue Jays concluded their season series. So, for now, Chapman holds the bragging rights over Kaprielian until at least 2023. Beyond the homer and result, though, is the memory these two created Wednesday afternoon.

“There’s nothing more beautiful in this game than getting to compete against your friends,” said A’s catcher Stephen Vogt. “That’s bragging rights for a long time. It’s always fun when you get to compete with people you know and care about. It was a fun battle. Obviously, I wish Kap would have won. But Chappy got him.”