Brandon Belt of the San Francisco Giants made history this weekend after he faced 21 pitches in a single at-bat – the longest ever in Major League Baseball.
An at-bat is a batter’s turn against a pitcher, and Belt’s face-off against Los Angeles Angels’ Jaime Barria saw him foul off a whopping 16 pitches, including 10 in a row at one stage. Here’s the footage.
The remarkable first-inning slugging session was eventually ended when Belt flew out to right fielder Kole Calhoun.
The previous at-bat record was 20 pitches, and saw Bartolo Colon strike out Ricky Gutierrez back in 1998.
Blackjack!
Jaime Barria wins 21(!) pitch at bat with Brandon Belt. pic.twitter.com/6NhrlPaAQs
— MLB (@MLB) April 22, 2018
In total, Barria threw 49 pitches in the first inning, but that in itself wasn’t quite a record – Daniel Norris hurled a 54-pitch inning in 2015.
A TWENTY-ONE pitch at-bat between Brandon Belt & Jaime Barria
FoulBall Swinging StrikeFoulFoulBallFoulFoulBallFoulFoulFoulFoulFoulFoulFoulFoulFoulFoulFoulFlyout
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) April 22, 2018
Belt was actually quite sheepish about putting his name in the history books.
“When I’m in the field I hate it when a batter keeps fouling pitches off,” he said. “I’m like, ‘Dude, just put it in play. It’s not that hard. Let’s go.’ So I basically had to apologise to everybody after that.”
Belt went on to be decisive in sealing the Giants’ 4-2 victory over the Angels, hitting a home run in the fifth inning.
Brandon Belt: Breaking records and hearts in the same day
#SFGiants pic.twitter.com/G4pVFvAyiV
— San Francisco Giants (@SFGiants) April 22, 2018
The Giants play again on Tuesday, against the Washington Nationals, while the Angels will play the Houston Astros.