San Francisco Giants first baseman Brandon Belt set a new MLB record on Sunday, facing 21 pitches in a single at bat against Los Angeles Angels pitcher, Jaime Barria.
Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group shared the graph that detailed all 21 pitches:
Unfortunately for Belt, he didn't end the at bat dramatically, lining out to right field despite posting arguably the greatest battle against a pitcher in history. Belt saw three balls, swung and missed at one pitch and fouled off the rest before he put the ball in play and lined out.
The previous record was set by former infielder Ricky Gutierrez, who faced 20 pitchers against Bartolo Colon at Jacobs Field in Cleveland on June 26th, 1998. Colon won the battle by striking out Gutierrez on a wicked breaking ball.
The 30-year-old Belt was named to the 2016 All-Star Game and won World Series championships with the Giants in 2012 and 2014. But as impressive as those feats are, this 21-pitch at bat could go down as the most memorable moment of his career.
As for the 21-year-old Barria, he signed with the Angels as an international free agent in 2013. He made his debut against the Texas Rangers on Apr. 11, allowing just one run in five innings to pick up the 7-2 win. It only took his second career start to make incredible history, though.
This is the beauty of baseball. You simply never know who and when a record will be broken. This happened a day after Sean Manaea of the Oakland Athletics threw a no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox, too.
Needless to say, it's been a very exciting week of baseball.