May 22, 2009

Bay Sets Red Sox HR Record

Jason Bay's home run off the top of the right-center field fence last night was his 11th consecutive home run with at least one runner on base -- a new Red Sox record.

The previous mark: 10, by Tony Conigliaro (1966) and Kevin Youkilis (2008).
You can't do it without guys getting on. I can't do it on my own. That's just one of those stats that they find that makes you look good because who would have ever thought that?
Bay joins Jimmy Bannon (1894), Bob Meusel (1925), Hank Greenberg (1933), Leon Durham (1984) and Chili Davis (1993) with 11 straight men-on dongs. ... The major league record is 12, set by Hank Aaron (1970) and Ken Griffey Jr. (1999).

Bay joked that he fouled out to first in the eighth inning because there were no runners on base.
Date   Opponent    Homer 
0417 Orioles Two-run
0424 Yankees Two-run
0427 Cleveland Three-run
0504 Yankees Two-run
0505 Yankees Three-run
0507 Cleveland Three-run
0508 Rays Three-run
0513 Angels Two-run
0516 Mariners Two-run
0520 Blue Jays Two-run
0521 Blue Jays Two-run
Bay has hit 13 home runs, second only to Carlos Pena (14) in the American League. Adrian Gonzalez and Raul Ibanez lead the NL with 15; Albert Pujols has hit 14.

***

John Smoltz started for Greenville (A) last night (box/pbp). He pitched three scoreless innings (29 pitches), allowing one hit and striking out two. Smoltz said he threw at about 85% and his fastball was clocked at 92.

In mop-up duty for Pawtucket last night, reliever Javier Lopez allowed four earned runs on four hits and five walks in two-thirds of an inning in the PawSox' 14-1 loss to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Mark Kotsay begins his rehab with Pawtucket today. ... Hunter Jones will be sent to Pawtucket when Matsuzaka is activated. ... Updates on Portland's Ryan Kalish and Lars Anderson.

10 comments:

Joy said...

Hee, that's two jokes you've documented in 2 days by Bay! (Yesterday's joke about losing the ball in the lights so Ellsbury could get another putout and today's about fouling off the ball with the bases empty.) I like his sense of humor. =)

9casey said...

That might be one of the most obscure records I have ever seen.....Is it really breaking a record if no one can ever tell you there was a record in the first place...some clever research by the Red Sox PR Dept..

A Conformer said...

What's interesting (and entirely irrelevant) is that he didn't hit any grand slams, either. So it's actually 11 straight dongs that are either 2-run or 3-run HRs. I wonder if any of the other ones with 11 can boast THAT record?

allan said...

Aaron's HR Log & his 1970 run:

June 21 to August 7: no grand slams (10 two-run, 2 three-run).

allan said...

Griffey's HR Log.

August 17 to September 22, 1999 (his last 12 dongs of the year): no grand slams, all 12 were two-run shots

allan said...

Yook's streak of 10 in 2008

June 22 to August 12:
1 grand slam, 1 three-run, 8 two-run

A Conformer said...

Griffey's HR LogAugust 17 to September 22, 1999 (his last 12 dongs of the year): no grand slams, all 12 were two-run shotsImpressive. That's a record that has a chance of not being broken in quite a while, I'd say.

allan said...

Tony C:

July 31 to September 23, 1966 (his last 10 HR of the season): 0 grand slams, 1 three-run, 9 two-run

allan said...

Chili Davis, 1993

April 12 to July 4 (1st 11 of year): 1 grand slam, 1 three-run, 9 two-run

A Conformer said...

This got me wondering: what event is more common? A solo shot, or a 2-run dong? Any idea how you would research that? My instinct would be 2-run.