With the stacked AL West, the Oakland Athletics will certainly have an uphill battle the rest of the season if they want to make any semblance of a playoff push. But if starting pitcher Bartolo Colon keeps up his hot start, their may be a bit more hope than once thought, especially since he set a new MLB record Wednesday night after throwing 38 consecutive strikes en route to a 6-0 victory over the Anaheim Angels.
Just how is this possible? Make the jump to find out.
The 38-year old Colon started his feat on the second pitch of the fifth inning, and lasted until the seventh pitch of the eighth inning. He had no foul balls, struck out two and allowed two Angels hits during that span. And of course, NOT A SINGLE BALL. Not only is that impressive, it's almost freaky, with the last suck player to get even close was journeyman Tim Wakefield through 30 straight back in 1988, though this 'record' isn't known any further because of pitch data's relatively recent expansion.
Colon ended with 102 pitches, 82 of them for strikes, while pushing his record to 3-1 with a 2.61 ERA on the season. After the game, Colon had no idea he was in such a zone:
''I felt like I threw a lot of strikes, but I never thought I threw 38 in a row. I didn't know anything about it until I came in here,'' Colon said to reporters through a translator. ''The two-seamer was the most consistent pitch that I had."
Two things are for sure, the A's have gotten themselves quite a deal for a 38-year old starting pitcher, and the Yankees certainly are giving themselves a facepalm for letting him go. Maybe we all should get stem cell injections in our elbows.
Still don't believe it? You can watch the whole thing here.
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