Friday, September 21, 2012
Four strikeouts in one inning
It's difficult to believe, but even with a history as deep and rich as that of the New York Yankees, there's an achievement — granted, it's rare — their pitchers had only managed to accomplish one time before Thursday night. For perspective, that's two times less than Chuck Finley all by himself, and the same number of times Tim Wakefield and 55 other pitchers had done it. Heck, a Chicago Cubs pitcher named Jason Berken did it himself on Thursday afternoon.
That achievement, of course, is a pitcher recording four strikeouts in a single inning, and now they can finally say it's happened twice after Phil Hughes struck out four straight batters in the fourth inning of their 10-7 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Hughes' first victim in the inning was J.P. Arencibia, whom he finished off in three pitches with a slider away. After a quick visit from the training staff and Joe Girardi, Hughes got Adeiny Hechavarria swinging on a high fastball that catcher Russell Martin couldn't handle. Martin was charged with a passed ball after it rolled all the way to screen, allowing Hechavarria to reach and Hughes to pursue a little history.
Now working from the stretch, Hughes would fan Anthony Gose on four pitches with a swing-and-miss curveball low and in. He then completed the impressive inning by catching Brett Lawrie looking on another dandy curveball. Four up, four strikeouts. And he did it all in an economical 17 pitches.
