Rockies-Mets at-bat features two pitchers and two batters
The scorecards of the scorekeeping fans at Coors Field Tuesday night in Denver were turned into a wet jumble during the seventh inning of a game between the Colorado Rockies and New York Mets.
That's when two pitchers and two hitters were needed to complete an at-bat that lasted over an hour and featured two different reasons for the mid-action substitutions.
Here's how it started: With rain falling hard and lightning flashing, Colorado's Dexter Fowler(notes) stepped in with two outs and the bases empty to face Mets pitcher Mike Pelfrey(notes). The umpires had hoped to get through the inning without a delay, but Fowler fouled off a couple tough pitches, which forced crew chief Mike Winters to halt the action with a 2-2 count and the Mets leading 4-3 (which would end up being the final score).
A rain delay in the middle of an at-bat — and not between two of them — is somewhat unique, but the at-bat would only get stranger.
First, the Tarp Monster claimed another victim on the Coors Field grounds crew.
When play resumed after a 50-minute rain delay, Mets manager Terry Collins called on Jason Isringhausen(notes) to finish the at-bat Pelfrey had started.
On Isringhausen's first pitch, Fowler fouled off another one, this time off his own left knee. After hobbling around with the trainer for several minutes, he was forced to leave the game with a bruised tendon.
Ryan Spilborghs(notes) finished the at-bat in Fowler's place, drawing a walk three pitches later.
That finally concluded a 10-pitch at-bat that lasted nearly an hour, started in a pouring rain with Dexter Fowler vs. Mike Pelfrey, and ended with Ryan Spilborghs vs. Jason Isringhausen, who each were officially credited with the walk.
I've never seen anything like it before and I've yet to see anyone produce a statistic citing how many four-play at-bats there have been in baseball history. Does Stats LLC or Baseball-Reference even have that capability?
Even if they do, I feel pretty safe assuming I'll never see anything like it again.
UPDATE: The fine folks at Stats took our challenge and found the last four-person at-bat occurred last August in the ninth inning of a game between the Nats and Dodgers ... though that instance was a product of strategy and not weird circumstance.
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