16 pitches! Margot works longest plate appearance of season

ARLINGTON -- Twins leadoff man Manuel Margot wants to set the tone out of the gate and wear down the opposing starting pitcher as much as possible.

“In the league, we try to get the starter out as quick as we can,” he said.

A 16-pitch battle to start the game helps in that regard, which is exactly what Margot managed to do in his opening at-bat against Rangers starter Andrew Heaney to open the Twins’ 4-3 win over Texas on Friday night at Globe Life Field.

It was the longest plate appearance in the Majors this season, surpassing the Phillies’ Nick Castellanos' 15-pitch plate appearance on Aug. 4.

Margot fouled off 11 pitches in the plate appearance, including eight consecutive before flying out. However, despite his desire to work counts against starting pitchers, Margot said he wanted to put the ball in play before the 16th pitch arrived.

“I don’t want to get that tired like that,” he said, smiling. “So, I’ve got to make contact.”

It was the longest leadoff plate appearance since the Brewers’ Pat Listach’s 17-pitch walk to lead off the bottom of the first inning on Sept. 26, 1992, and the second-longest leadoff plate appearance since pitch counts began being tracked in 1988.

• Longest MLB at-bats on record

Heaney threw 13 fastballs, two sliders and one changeup during the plate appearance. Heaney retired the next two batters -- Carlos Santana and Max Kepler -- with one-pitch at-bats.

"It's definitely abnormal,” said Heaney, who lasted 4 1/3 innings. “I got an out out of it, so that always makes you feel better. Then the next two guys got out on one pitch [each]. So it kind of ended up being a uniquely normal first inning."

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli called it a “memorable inning,” although his team didn’t score any runs.

“I would say we smashed a few balls after that and then you end up with nothing,” Baldelli said. ”You’re walking away with 18 pitches seen, and two really good swings and one pretty good swing. I mean, it’s life. That happens. Baseball’s kind of a funny game. It’s a little bit different than other games. Sometimes you do everything right, and you’re sitting there scratching your head, trying to figure out a different way to get it done.

“But that’s the type of inning that -- I don’t really glorify things like this too often -- it’s the kind of inning that you should probably walk away with a couple of runs, the way it went. Or at least score at some point along the way. But that’s life. You’ve got to move on, and we moved on and played a good game.”