The Cincinnati Reds tied an unwanted MLB record on Saturday by being unable to find the strike zone against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Reds issued seven consecutive walks during the second inning of Saturday’s game at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pa. Starting pitcher Rhett Lowder started the streak by issuing walks to Brandon Lowe, Bryan Reynolds, and Ryan O’Hearn after retiring the first batter of the inning. That loaded the bases and ended Lowder’s day.
Enter reliever Connor Phillips, who was arguably worse. Phillips walked four straight batters, all with the bases loaded. The seven straight walks tied an MLB record, with the mark having done twice before. Ironically, the 1983 Pittsburgh Pirates were the most recent to do it.
Reds tie an MLB record by walking seven straight Pirates hitters pic.twitter.com/GfJIZoLCzY
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Phillips was lifted after his four walks, and Sam Moll came in to get Cincinnati out of the inning. By the time the damage was done, Pittsburgh had ten runs in the first two innings.
The Reds entered action Saturday having issued the fourth-most walks in the league, but this is a lot by even that standard. It essentially put the game out of reach early and must have had manager Terry Francona wondering what he was supposed to do.
The Pirates, meanwhile, have demonstrated a habit of putting together big innings. In this instance, though, they literally did not even have to swing the bat to accomplish that.
