Brandon Belt of the Giants and Jaime Barria of the Angels combined to set a plate appearance record:
San Francisco Giants first baseman Brandon Belt set a Major League Baseball record Sunday when he battled out a 21-pitch at-bat against Los Angeles Angels rookie right-hander Jaime Barria.
Belt fouled off 16 two-strike pitches before lining out to Angels right fielder Kole Calhoun. The at-bat lasted 12 minutes and 45 seconds. It is the most pitches in at at-bat since records began in 1988.
Belt broke the record previously held by then-Houston Astros infielder Ricky Gutierrez, who had a 20-pitch at-bat against then-Cleveland Indians right-hander Bartolo Colon on June 26, 1998.
I used to attend a lot of Red Sox games during the Wade Boggs era, and Boggs was excellent at fouling off pitches. I don’t remember a PA like that, however. I do remember him fouling off three or four consecutive pitches to the same section down the leftfield line, and then the fans standing in unison, each motioning for Boggs to hit the ball to me.
In general, I suspect most fans find foul balls boring, but a PA this long must become a bit engaging.
The Angels won the game 4-2.
from baseballmusings.com https://ift.tt/2Hok5ig
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