Jaime Barria and Brandon Belt battled in a 21-pitch at-bat for the ages -- and the history books
It took
He did, though, battle Giants first baseman
Yes, you read that right. After falling behind in the count, 1-2, Belt dug in, took some balls and fouled off 16 pitches before lining out to
That pitch chart is really something.
Barria's 49-pitch first inning was the 2nd highest first-inning pitch count by an Angels starter since data began being tracked in 1988 -- but he came close to eclipsing that of Chuck Finley, who needed 50 to get through the first in a game on June 15, 1991.
As for the 21-pitch showdown between Belt and Barria, it beat the previous record of 20 pitches, which was carried out by a young
MLB.com's Maria Guardado talked to Barria about the at-bat postgame:
"I got a little tired. It was 21 pitches and almost 50 pitches in the first inning. But I prepared myself mentally to get through the second inning quickly. I attacked the batters, and fortunately, it went well."
And when did he find out it was an all-time high?
"When I came out of the game, I came back to the gym and that's when I found out that it was a record."
Angels catcher
"Oh, yeah. Even the second AB, he did the same thing. First two at-bats, went to two strikes after foul ball after foul ball. I was like, 'This can't be happening.'"
There have certainly been some highly entertaining marathon at-bats over the years, and thanks to Sunday, Barria and Belt are now part of that conversation.
