PHILADELPHIA – If you couldn't recall a pitcher having an outing like Phillies reliever B.J. Rosenberg endured Monday against the Braves, there's good reason: Nobody has, at least not in the past century.
Rosenberg gave up solo home runs to all three batters he faced – Evan Gattis, Dan Uggla, Andrelton Simmons — in the eighth inning of the Braves’ 9-6 win at Citizens Bank Park. Retrosheet did the research and discovered no pitcher in the database that goes back to 1914 gave up home runs to the only three batters he faced in a game.
Retrosheet found that 44 pitchers had given up homers to the only two batters they faced in a game, but none had done the hat trick of sorts, giving up three consecutive homers to the only batters faced.
Before Monday, it had been six years since the Braves last hit three consecutive homers in an inning – Chipper Jones, Mark Teixeira and Brian McCann did it against Florida on April 17, 2008.
Another statistical rarity from Monday night: The Braves equaled the major league record for home runs (five) in a game in which a team had been held scoreless through the first five innings.
Ten other teams have done it, most recently the 2006 Rangers. The first was the 1931 Yankees, against a Philadelphia team (Athletics). The Yankees got late-innings homers from Lyn Lary, Bill Dickey, Lou Gehrig and two from Babe Ruth.
And finally, Braves reliever Luis Avilan on Monday became the first major league pitcher credited with a win despite allowing five or more earned runs in one inning or fewer since Jack Knott of the 1934 St. Louis Browns. Avilan gave up four hits and five runs in the eighth inning, turning a 5-1 lead into a 6-5 deficit.
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