Chris Davis passes Ripken to set new Orioles strikeout record
There are two things Baltimore Orioles first baseman Chris Davis is primarily known for: hitting home runs and striking out at an epic pace. Now, his name is etched in the Orioles' history books for the latter.
With his swinging strikeout in the bottom of the eighth inning of Saturday's loss to the Minnesota Twins, Davis passed Cal Ripken Jr. for the franchise record in punchouts by a hitter.
Davis' 1,306th strikeout with the #Orioles, passing Cal Ripken, Jr. for the all-time franchise record.
— Eduardo A. Encina (@EddieInTheYard) July 7, 2018
The big difference is that it took Davis 974 games over parts of eight seasons in Baltimore to set the new record, while Ripken played 21 years and 3,001 games in the majors - all with the Orioles.
Davis wasn't exactly happy about the record, but he said it comes with the territory of swinging for the fences.
"I heard. No, I wasn't aware of it," he said, according to MASN Sports' Roch Kubatko. "It's not something I'm particularly proud of, but it's something that unfortunately is part of my game. It's a big part of my game and always has been."
The most strikeouts Ripken ever recorded in a single season was 114 in 1991 over 162 games. With his record-setting K on Saturday, Davis now has 104 through 71 games this season.
It wasn't all doom and gloom for the slugger, however, as he also crushed his eighth home run of the campaign earlier in the afternoon.
"With the home runs and the power, you also get the strikeouts and the swings and misses," Davis added. "If you play long enough, you're going to swing and miss enough to apparently set some records. There's really not much to say about that."