Steve Delabar of the Cincinnati Reds set a modern major league record Tuesday night by walking four straight batters with the bases loaded.
The 32-year-old eclipsed the record set by a 15-year-old Joe Nuxhall, who walked three straight batters with the bases loaded for the Cincinnati Reds on June 10, 1944 after he gave up a single to Hall of Famer Stan Musial.
The Greater Cincinnati native Nuxhall is one of only four players to walk three batters with the bases loaded in an inning. Of the four, Kam Mickolio had the bad hat trick on September 8, 2008 and Lefty Sloat did the deed on April 24, 1948.
However, neither Sloat nor Micklio walked three consecutive batters in their outings. Nuxhall was the only pitcher to walk three straight with the bases loaded. The other “pitcher” to do it was a positional player, Manny Alexander, who walked three straight in a game on April 19, 1996.
Fortunately for the future Reds’ radio broadcaster and club Hall of Famer Nuxhall, his Hall of Fame manager Bill McKechnie didn’t let the 15-year-old prodigy stay in the game to walk a fourth straight batter all those years ago. If he had, then current Reds’ manager Bryan Price wouldn’t have been able to witness Delabar break Nuxhall’s record.
Now that Delabar has set the bar at a new all-time low, the record can be added to the growing lists of worsts by a 2016 Reds’ bullpen that set a record earlier this season for consecutive games surrendering at least one earned run.That streak finally ended at 23 straight games.
The Reds’ bullpen entered the game with the sixth-worst bullpen ERA in the history of baseball since 1913. After coughing up three more earned runs in less than four innings Tuesday night, the bullpen did its part to keep pace with its descent into history.
The Reds’ bullpen also entered the game and ended the day with the worst ERA among all bullpens in baseball this year.
With no end in sight for the beleaguered pen, Reds’ manager Price and the entire Reds’ front office might as well scour the Greater Cincinnati area for another 15-year-old to try their luck.
Robb Hoff writes about the Cincinnati Reds for OutsidePitch MLB. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
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