Before yesterday, nobody had been hit by two pitches in the same game for the Braves since September 13, 2009 when Matt Diaz took two plunks against the Cardinals. That drought might have been why the Braves went out and got Reed Johnson at the trade deadline – Johnson had 7 career multi-plunk games before yesterday, including three different 3 plunk games. Hughie Jennings is the only other player with 3 different 3 plunk games in his career.
Yesterday Johnson broke the Braves multi-plunk slump taking his first two plunks as a Brave yesterday. Nathan Eovaldi hit him in the 2nd inning, and Dan Jennings hit him in the 8th. Johnson now has 8 multi-plunk games in his career, and that ties him with Josh Willingham and Chase Utley for the lead in that category among active players. For his career, Johnson is now up to 119 HBPs which puts him in 47th place all time, one plunk behind Buck Herzog.
Craig Gentry got hit by CJ Wilson yesterday, making him the 2nd American League batter this year to reach the 10 plunk mark. This is his a career high for Gentry, and he only had 6 career HBPs coming into this year. The last Rangers batters to get hit by 10 pitches in a season was Marlon Byrd had 10 in 2009. The Rangers single season record is 16 by Alex Rodriguez in 2001.
Plunk Signal