ANAHEIM — You never know what you’re going to see at the ballpark, and it’s safe to say that no one expected to see what took place at Angels Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
In the rubber match between the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Angels, Brandon Belt worked Jaime Barria to a 21-pitch at-bat in the first inning, setting a new major league record.
Courtesy of mlb.com.
Belt fouled off the first pitch and worked the count full before fouling off the final 11 pitches of the at-bat. He made loud contact on the final pitch, but the ball was hit directly to right fielder Kole Calhoun.
All told, his at-bat took 12 minutes. The Giants went on to load the bases, but were unable to score in the inning.
The previous record was held by Ricky Gutierrez, who worked 20 pitches off Bartolo Colon in 1998. In the end, Colon got the last laugh by striking out Gutierrez.