Last year, Yusmeiro Petit came within one out of a perfect game -- Eric Chavez hit a 3-2 fastball for a soft line drive to right field -- but now he got his name into the record books anyway, retiring his 46th batter in a row in Thursday's start against the Rockies.
Petit's streak goes back to July 22, when he retired the final batter he faced in a start against the Phillies; it wasn't a good one, as he allowed five runs in five innings. After that start, he was back in a mop-up role in the bullpen, before starting for Tim Lincecum on Thursday.
Here's the play-by-play of all 46 outs:
July 22 versus Phillies
1. Grady Sizemore grounded out to the mound.
July 26 versus Dodgers
2. A.J. Ellis flied out to center.
3. Clayton Kershaw grounded out to shortstop.
4. Dee Gordon struck out swinging.
5. Yasiel Puig struck out swinging.
6. Adrian Gonzalez grounded out to second.
7. Miguel Rojas struck out looking.
July 28 versus Pirates
8. Andrew McCutchen flied out to right.
9. Gaby Sanchez struck out swinging.
10. Neil Walker lined out to center.
11. Russell Martin grounded out to second.
12. Gregory Polanco popped out to third.
13. Brent Morel grounded out to shortstop.
Aug. 7 versus Brewers
14. Khris Davis flied out to deep center.
15. Rickie Weeks struck out swinging.
16. Mark Reynolds flied out to deep center.
Aug. 10 versus Royals
17. Omar Infante popped out to first.
18. Salvador Perez struck out swinging.
19. Billy Butler lined out to center.
Aug. 19 versus Cubs
20. Kyle Hendricks struck out swinging.
21. Chris Coghlan struck out swinging.
22. Javier Baez struck out swinging.
23. Anthony Rizzo struck out swinging.
24. Chris Valaika struck out swinging.
25. Luis Valbuena grounded out back to the mound.
Aug. 23 versus Nationals
26. Denard Span flied out to left field.
27. Anthony Rendon struck out looking.
28. Jayson Werth popped out to second.
29. Adam LaRoche flied out to left field.
30. Ian Desmond struck out swinging.
31. Bryce Harper popped out to shortstop.
32. Wilson Ramos lined out to right field.
33. Asdrubal Cabrera grounded out to first.
34. Jordan Zimmermann struck out swinging.
35. Denard Span struck out swinging.
36. Anthony Rendon flied out to deep right field.
37. Jayson Werth struck out looking.
38. Adam LaRoche grounded out to shortstop.
Aug. 28 versus Rockies
39. Charlie Blackmon lined out to right.
40. DJ LeMahieu struck out swinging.
41. Justin Morneau flied out to center.
42. Nolan Arenado flied out to center.
43. Corey Dickerson struck out swinging.
44. Brandon Barnes struck out looking.
45. Jackson Williams struck out swinging.
46. Charlie Culberson struck out swinging.
The streak ended when opposing pitcher Jordan Lyles doubled down the left-field line.
Petit isn't known as a big strikeout pitcher -- although he's striking out batters at a career-high rate this season -- but 21 of the 46 outs came on strikeouts. Not surprisingly, only seven of the outs were ground balls; since grounders go for hits more often than fly balls, a record like this requires strikeouts and fly balls. Plus, of course, excellent command, something Petit has always had.
Anyway, it's a pretty cool achievement. The previous mark of 45 was held by White Sox starter Mark Buehrle, set in 2009 over a three-start stretch, the middle one being his perfect game. The previous National League record of 41 in a row was set by Giants pitcher Jim Barr in 1972. Barr retired the final 21 batters on Aug. 23 and the first 20 on Aug. 29.
One of the fun things about the long baseball season is the crazy, random events that will happen. This is one of those, although in this era of dominant pitching, maybe it's not a surprise that Buehrle's record was broken. But I don't think anyone would have predicted Petit to be the one to do it.