Buehrle Sets MLB Record

By Benjy Lipsman in Miscellaneous on Jul 29, 2009 2:40PM

As an encore to last Thursday's perfect game, Mark Buehrle remained unhittable well into Tuesday night's game against the Minnesota Twins. In the process, Buehrle set the MLB record for most consecutive batters retired. By taking another perfect game into the sixth inning, Buehrle ended up retiring 45 consecutive batters without one reaching base, going back to his July 18 start against Baltimore.

Exiting against the Orioles after his final batter flied out, Buehrle retired all 27 batters in his perfect game and 17 more on Tuesday night before a walk and a hit ended his perfect game and no-hit bids. In that time, 45 men came to the plate and subsequently returned to the dugout without reaching base.

Buehrle's record takes the title away from a teammate, Bobby Jenks. In 2007, Jenks tied the record set in 1972 by Jim Barr, at 41 batters. Buehrle got the initial record breaking 42nd out against former White Sox teammate Joe Crede, who hit a grounder to short. Buehrle's early dominance wasn't enough fro the Sox, however, as he allowed a run in the sixth and four more in the seventh and took the loss, as the White Sox dropped the game 5-1 to the Twins. We'll have our complete recap in just a moment.