Brandon Belt's 13-Minute, 21-Pitch At-Bat a Giant Waste of Time

Jaime Barria and Brandon Belt engaged in a 21-pitch, 13-minute at-bat on Sunday before the Giants first baseman flied out to right field. No duo had ever wasted so much time before. Belt understandably felt compelled to apologize for the charade.

“When I’m in the field I hate it when a batter keeps fouling pitches off,” Belt said, sheepishly. “I’m like ‘Dude, just put it in play. It’s not that hard. Let’s go.’ So I basically had to apologize to everybody after that.”

Belt went on to have an eight- and nine-pitch at-bat later in the day. Those ended in a single and home run, respectively. So it appears he found the sweet spot.

For my money, Barria’s ability to throw 18 pitches worth swinging at in a row is the most impressive part of the record-setting battle. Bartolo Colon and Ricky Gutierrez held the previous mark at 20, a blessed event which occurred three weeks before Barria was born.