Belt has 21-pitch at-bat, later homers
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Brandon Belt hung in for an epic 21-pitch at-bat before flying out, but later homered to lead Johnny Cueto and the Giants past the Angels 4-2 on Sunday.
Belt saw 21 pitches in an epic plate appearance against Angels rookie right-hander Jaime Barria in the first inning, the most since records began in 1988.
The previous high of 20 pitches in a plate appearance since 1988 was when the Indians’ Bartolo Colon finally struck out the Astros’ Ricky Gutierrez on June 26, 1998.
Yankees: Luis Severino pitched three-hit ball over seven innings, prized prospect Gleyber Torres went 0-for-4 in his bigleague debut in a 5-1 win over the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium. Torres became the youngest position player to appear in a game for the Yankees since 20-year-old Melky Cabrera in 2005.
Cardinals: Kolten Wong and Paul DeJong homered to lead a 9-2 victory against the Reds in St. Louis. The Cardinals have won eight of nine while the Reds (3-18) have dropped five in a row and 13 of 14. ... Before the game, the Cardinals placed RHP Adam Wainwright on the 10-day DL because of inflammation in his right elbow.
The left-handed Belt fouled off 11 straight pitches, including two long fouls down the right-field line, before lining out to right fielder Kole Calhoun, ending an at-bat the Giants said lasted 12 minutes, 45 seconds. Belt was greeted with high-fives when he returned to the dugout.
It took nine pitches for Belt to work the count full, as he fouled off five pitches in the process. He swung and missed just once.
Angels pitching coach Charles Nagy made a mound visit after the Belt at-bat. Barria had thrown nine pitches to Joe Panik, who hit a leadoff single, before throwing 21 to Belt.
Athletics: Khris Davis hit a three-run HR off David Price with two outs in the eighth to key a 4-1 victory over the visiting Red Sox. A day after getting no-hit by Sean Manaea, the Red Sox lost back-to-back games for the first time under manager Alex Cora.
Brewers: Christian Yelich hit a two-run HR, Junior Guerra worked five innings and three relievers did the rest to complete a four-game sweep of the Marlins with a 4-2 win in Milwaukee. The Brewers have won six straight.
Indians: Jose Ramirez homered twice and Corey Kluber won his third straight start in a 7-3 victory over the Orioles in Baltimore. Manny Machado hit two solo homers for the Orioles.
Belt singled and scored in the third and launched a leadoff homer to right against Blake Parker in the fifth. Belt saw a total of 38 pitches in his first three at-bats, then hit the first pitch his last two times up.
Cueto (2-0) allowed two hits in six shutout innings against cleanup batter Shohei Ohtani and the Angels. Cueto took a no-hitter into the sixth and struck out seven.
Ohtani threw a bullpen session about 90 minutes before batting cleanup for the first time for the Angels. He went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts and lowered his average to .333.
Phillies: Aaron Altherr’s walkoff RBI single in the 11th inning was the difference in a 3-2 victory over the Pirates, giving the Phillies their first four-game sweep over the Pirates in 24 years. The Phillies have won 13 of 16 since a 1-4 start and are seven games over .500 for the first time since May 18, 2016.
Cubs: Kris Bryant left the 9-7 victory over the Rockies in the first inning after he was hit on the head with a 96 mph pitch by German Marquez. The team said Bryant had a cut under an eye but no sign of a concussion. Hitting coach Chili Davis and assistant hitting coach Andy Haines were ejected by umpire Cory Blaser as trainers worked on Bryant.