In the game of baseball, a pitcher is considered to have had a very good inning if he throws around 15 pitches.
On April 22 Los Angeles Angels pitcher Jaime Barria topped that number to a single batter when he and San Francisco Giant first baseman Brandon Belt paired up for a record setting 21 pitch at bat that lasted 13 minutes. The count was three balls and two strikes – full count – and with each successive pitch, Belt hit the ball foul. After 12 such pitches, Belt sent one in the outfield only to be caught. Belt foued off 16 of the 21 pitches.
The 21 pitch at bat beat the previous record of 20 pitches set in June 1998 between Ricky Gutierrez and Bartolo Colon.
The record settng at bat happed in the first inning when Belt was the second batter to come to the plate. Escaping a bases loaded jam, Barria threw a total of 49 pitches in the first inning.
Barria ended up leaving the game in the third inning after throwing 77 pitches.
The Giants would go on to win the game 4-2, including a home run by Brandon Belt in a nine pitch at bat.
After the game belt apologized to the Angels…and all of baseball…saying, “when I’m in the field I hate it when a batter keeps fouling pitches off. I’m like ‘Dude, just put it in play. It’s not that hard. Let’s go.”
Giants manager Bruce Bochy said that he had never seen anything like it.