CINCINNATI — The RedsYou have the chance to become the first modern-era team Major League BaseballHit 100 batters and set a new world record of 99 in 2022, Tuesday.
Reds rookie starter Nick LodoloThree Red Sox batters in Tuesday’s game to break the record set by the CubsLast season. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays had previously set records for the most batters in 2003 with 95 and 2002 with 94, respectively.
Lodolo hit Red Sox first baseman Rob Refsnyder in the second inning and then hit Enrique Hernández and Yu Chang in back-to-back plate appearances in the fourth inning to tie and break the Cubs’ record.
In his previous two starts, Lodolo struck out 11 batters and didn’t walk anyone, but hit batters in both games. Reds catcher Austin Romine explained that one reason the left-handed Lodolo has hit so many batters is that his breaking ball fools right-handed batters who think it’s a strike until it breaks to their back foot. All three of his hit batters in Tuesday’s game were to the back foot of right-handed batters.
“Righties have trouble with it,” Romine said following Lodolo’s start against the PiratesLast week. “It looks like it’s going to stop and break down and it just keeps chasing them inside. Some of these guys swing at curveballs that nearly hit their back leg. That tells you something right there that he’s got a really good breaker.”
In Cincinnati, 26 different pitchers have reached the plate this season. The Reds’ club record was 80 hit batters, set in 2005.
Reds have used 38 pitchers this season, a club-record number that includes three position players. That’s tied for the second-most pitchers used in the big leagues this year behind the Cubs (42). The Reds have had seven pitchers make their big-league debuts this season.
(Photo by Nick Lodolo, David Kohl / USA Today
