Baseball seems like such a simple game to figure out. Until you try to figure it out.

Chris Davis, ex-Ranger, walked up to the plate sixty-two times in a row without collecting a hit. That seems almost impossible. Not even a cheap check swing. Not even a bleeder up the middle. Nothing. Nobody had ever done that before. Or not done that before, as the case may be.

In 1985, a Detroit Tigers outfielder Alex Sanchez went to the plate 133 times without drawing a single walk.

How is it that in 1,326 major league plate appearances, Joey Gallo doesn’t have a single sacrifice fly? That’s almost impossible. Andrew Cashner hit a sac fly in 2017. He went to the plate only seven times.

But Wednesday in Los Angeles saw one of the more inexplicable oddities in baseball.  Six-time All-Star and MVP winner Joey Votto of the Reds has played for thirteen seasons. He has walked up to the plate 6,829 times. And in all those journeys to the dish, there was one thing he never did. He popped up to first.

Think of how many times Rangers fans witnessed Ian Kinsler popping up to the infield. Then stop and reflect on that. Joey Votto had never popped up to the first baseman ever in thirteen seasons. I don’t know what is more noteworthy. The accomplishment itself or the fact someone kept track of it.

Again, that doesn’t seem possible. But it was. Because baseball makes no sense.

*****
TONIGHT’S GAME:

Justin Verlander (2-0, 3.52) vs. Drew Smyly (0-1, 7.15)
Game time: 7:05