Colby Lewis watched Tuesday night as his teammate Josh Hamilton hit four home runs and a double after finishing his game Monday night with a homer, giving him six straight extra-base hits and setting an American League record for total bases in one game with 18. Like all of his other teammates, Lewis was most likely in awe by the display Hamilton put on.
But when he took the mound for his start on Thursday in Game 1 of a doubleheader, Lewis wasn't hoping to make the type of history he did, as the Orioles started the game off with back-to-back-to-back home runs, becoming the first American League team to do so.
It was a really rough start for Lewis, who has a tendency to give up home runs (he led the league last season) but fortunately most of them are of the solo variety, as those three obviously were.
After that, Lewis was locked in like no other Rangers pitcher this year, even Yu against the Yankees. He struck out six straight, and ended up fanning a career-high 12 while retiring the next 18 batters in dominant fashion. Then, in the seventh inning, the home run bug came back as he gave up two more bombs.
In all, the Orioles finished the game with five hits — all home runs, all off Lewis — to win the game before the Rangers came back to win the night cap.
Lewis became the first pitcher in Major League Baseball history to give up five home runs in a game while striking out 10 or more, something that possibly could never happen again, and frankly that type of game was typical Lewis — home runs, then perfection, then a couple of more bombs.
"It was just a weird game," Lewis said after the game. "I have no way to justify it. I felt great going out there. I felt great in the seventh inning. I hardly feel like I pitched. And there wasn't one ball that they mishit or that just fell in. And with most of the homers, I felt like I had located the pitch where I wanted to. Even after those first three homers, I felt like someone is going to get an out at some point."
