SEATTLE -- Mason Englert didn’t realize anything was out of the ordinary until he had thrown well over a dozen pitches in the at-bat Saturday night.
The Rays reliever had come on to start the sixth inning with Tampa Bay trailing by two runs, and J.P. Crawford stepped in the box for the Mariners. Crawford didn’t leave until 17 pitches later, when he hit a short popup that shortstop Ha-Seong Kim tracked down on the outfield grass.
“On like pitch 14, I looked up and it felt like a long AB,” Englert said. “It felt longer the last three pitches. But initially it didn’t -- until I looked up and saw 14.”
The outcome of the at-bat didn’t mean much in the Rays’ 7-4 loss to the Mariners at T-Mobile Park, but it was a rarity. The 17-pitch plate appearance tied with multiple at-bats, including one by former Rays player Nathaniel Lowe on Thursday, for the ninth-longest in MLB since tracking of pitch counts began in 1988. It tied Darren Bragg on June 16, 1995, for the most by a Mariners hitter.
It was also the longest plate appearance against a Rays pitcher in team history, beating out Taj Bradley throwing 16 pitches to Kyle Farmer on Sept. 13, 2023.
Englert has eight appearances this year where he’s thrown fewer pitches total than he did in the one at-bat against Crawford.
“Impressive by him and certainly impressive by J.P. to continue to foul those balls off,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “I’m happy Mason was able to get him to pop up. I’m guessing you’ve got to have some mental strength to get through that, and he did.”
Crawford started the at-bat taking a curveball for a called strike, then fouled off a changeup before taking another for a ball. His second foul ball of the at-bat came on a fastball, before taking a changeup on the fifth pitch for a 2-2 count.
Things were just getting started. Englert tried everything he had for the next six pitches -- fastball, curveball, changeup, cutter, fastball again, curveball again. All fouled away into the seats before a sinker low and inside on the 12th pitch made it a full count.
Englert challenged Crawford with a pair of fastballs on the 13th and 14th pitches, and Crawford fouled them off. Same for a changeup and a sinker on the 15th and 16th.
Finally, the at-bat ended when Crawford popped up on a 93.7 mph sinker over the upper middle of the plate.
“That’s not easy to do, and I give J.P. so much credit,” Seattle manager Dan Wilson said. “Just to stay on those, to keep the intent, you could tell he was just trying to use [the] middle and stay alive and try to get something out that way. Again, we talk about his ability to put up good ABs, his ability to get on base, and that was spectacular tonight.”
When it was over, Englert recognized he was part of something out of the ordinary.
“I took a second, stepped out and laughed,” he said. “Just kind of recognized how crazy it was, and then I didn’t do as good a job as I should have bringing it back. I’ve got to move on the next hitter. I almost felt like, ‘All right, I won a 17-pitch at-bat,’ and almost had a sense of taking a deep breath that I shouldn’t have taken.”
Englert walked the next batter he faced, Cole Young, who later scored on a wild pitch. Englert also felt some cramping by his right thumb, leading to a trip from the trainer after the walk, but he didn’t think the long at-bat was the cause.
Brandon Lowe, who hit his third home run in four games in the first inning, said he thought Crawford’s teammates got a boost from the at-bat.
“I think it does more for the guys that are coming in after,” Lowe said. “You know, the guy on deck has seen 17 pitches and pretty much the entire arsenal multiple times over.”