Trevor Rosenthal is off to a historically bad start. After Sunday’s win against the New York Mets, the Washington Nationals reliever still had an infinity ERA — and he became the first pitcher in 24 years to face his first nine batters of the season without recording an out.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last player to do so was John Hope.
Trevor Rosenthal is the 1st pitcher in last 24 seasons who failed to retire any of 1st 9 batters faced in a season. The last pitcher with a season-opening streak as long was the optimistically-named John Hope, who in 1995 allowed the 1st nine batters to reach.