August 28, 2014: The San Francisco Giants beat the Colorado Rockies, 4-1 at AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco. Yusmeiro Petit, normally a relief pitcher, started this game for the Giants. Having retired the 1st 8 batters, he ran his streak of consecutive batters retired to 46, a new major league record. I have a separate entry for this event.
A native of Venezuela, in 1994 he was a 10-year-old member of the Coquivacoa team that won the Little League World Series. He debuted in the majors with the 2006 Florida Marlins, and had also pitched for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He been a member of the Giants' 2012 World Series winners, making him the 1st player ever to win both the Little League and the major league World Series.
Making a spot start in place of the injured Matt Cain on July 22, and giving up 5 runs, Petit recorded the last out of the 5th inning, and subsequently proceeded to post 6 consecutive perfect relief appearances -- and yet, the Giants lost all 6 games:
* July 26, 2 innings at home to the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-0.
* July 28, 2 innings at home to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-0.
* August 7, 1 inning away to the Milwaukee Brewers, 3-1.
* August 10, 1 inning away to the Kansas City Royals, 7-4.
* August 19, 2 innings away to the Chicago Cubs, 2-1. And:
* August 23, 4 1/3rd innings away to the Washington Nationals, 6-2.
On August 28, having had 4 days' rest, and having retired the last 38 batters he'd faced, Petit was started against the Colorado Rockies at home, by Giant manager Bruce Bochy, in place of the injured Tim Lincecum. He retired the 1st 8 batters, for a total of 46 in a row.
This broke the record of 45, set by Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox, in 2009, including a perfect game and his starts right before and right after that. Buehrle had broken the record set by a previous Giant, Jim Barr, who retired 41 straight over 2 starts in 1972. Another White Sox pitcher, Bobby Jenks, had matched that in 2007, all in relief.
Buehrle had also set the record for consecutive perfect innings pitched, with 15. Petit raised that to 15 1/3rd, before Jordan Lyles, the opposing pitcher, doubled off him in the 3rd inning, to end both streaks. But Petit did not allow another run, and pitched 6 innings to get the win. During the streak, he lowered his ERA from 4.11 to 3.44.
That season, Petit would help the Giants win the World Series again. His career ended in 2021, across San Francisco Bay, with the Oakland Athletics, with a record of 50-44 and 8 saves.
As of August 28, 2022, Petit's records of 46 straight batters retired, and 15 1/3rd straight perfect innings, still stand. So do Buehrle's records of 45 and 15 for a starting pitcher.
*
August 28, 2014 was a Thursday. This was the day that President Barack Obama showed up for a White House press conference wearing a tan suit, causing conservatives to lose what was left of their minds. I have a separate entry for this event.
These other Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers, 3-2 at Comerica Park in Detroit. Batting against Shawn Kelley, Alex Avila singled Bryan Holaday home with the winning run in the bottom of the 9th inning. That, and the lineup getting only 5 hits -- 2 by Carlos Beltrán, and none by the soon-to-retire Derek Jeter -- ruined a good start by Hiroki Kuroda.
* The New York Mets lost to the Atlanta Braves, 6-1 at Citi Field. The Mets were only down 1-0 after 7 innings, but Jon Niese ran out of gas.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 5-4 at Camden Yards in Baltimore.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 7-2 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-2 at the new Comiskey Park (now Guaranteed Rate Field) in Chicago.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals, 11-5 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Royals reliever Bruce Chen absolutely collapsed in the top of the 10th inning, allowing 2 singles, 2 doubles, a triple, and 2 walks, 1 of them intentional, for 6 runs.
* The Houston Astros beat their in-State rivals, the Texas Rangers, 4-2 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.
* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Oakland Athletics, 4-3 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Howie Kendrick won it with a sacrifice fly, bringing Albert Pujols home in the bottom of the 10th inning.
* And the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Boston Red Sox, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Miami Marlins, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the St. Louis Cardinals, the San Diego Padres, the Seattle Mariners, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Washington Nationals were not scheduled.
No comments:
Post a Comment