San Francisco Giants pitcher Yusmeiro Petit set a major league record during Thursday’s outing against the Colorado Rockies by retiring a 46th consecutive batter, per the Giants’ official Twitter account.
Petit entered Thursday’s game having retired 38 consecutive hitters, thus needing just eight more to break the record of 45, set by Mark Buehrle for the Chicago White Sox in 2009, per ESPN.com.
Making his first start since July 22, Petit proceeded to retire the first eight batters he faced, with the record-setting out coming on a strikeout of Rockies second baseman Charlie Culberson.
Just one batter after breaking the all-time record, Petit surrendered a two-out double to pitcher Jordan Lyles, followed by an RBI single to outfielder Charlie Blackmon.
The 29-year-old righty then settled down to go six strong innings, allowing just the one run on four hits, with nine strikeouts to boot. He improved his record to 4-3 while ensuring that he’ll get another turn in the rotation.
Used as both a starter and reliever over the last two seasons, Petit has been rather successful in both roles, yet the Giants have been oddly hesitant to deploy him as a full-time starter.
It’s not as if the team’s options ahead of Petit have been great, as the Giants suffered from poor starting pitching last season, with the problem carrying over to this year. Both Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum appear to be in the decline phase of their careers, and the Giants went so far as to trade for a struggling Jake Peavy at the trade deadline.
Finally, with few other options available, the team decided to replace Lincecum with Petit, who immediately made the decision look like a smart one.
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