Expert: Tom Schott - 6/22/2011

Question
The MN Twins played on 6-21-11 against the SF Giants. They started the game with all of the first 8 batters getting a hit. (No stikeouts, no BB, ect.) Streak ended when the pitcher, Pavano struck out while up to bat. I was curious to know what the longest streak of hits to start a game was? And what the greatest number of hits in a row by a team were? Consecutively of course.

Answer
Hey, Robert,

 The greatest number of consecutive hits in the same inning by a MLB team is 11, by the Colorado Rockies against the Chicago Cubs in Coors Field on July 30, 2010, not even a year ago. Here is the box score and play-by-play of that game:

          http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/COL/COL201007300.shtml

 I myself don't have the resources to answer the other question about number of consecutive hits to begin a game, but I found the following information on the Web. Apparently the Twins tied an existing record:

In 2009 the Cubs were the last team to have eight to start the game (vs Pittsburgh), and the Yankees were the last AL team to do it in 1990 (vs Baltimore). The first time was by the Cubs vs. the Pirates in 1973. The other occasions were Philadelphia vs. the Cubs in 1975, Pittsburgh vs. Atlanta in 1976 and Oakland vs the White Sox in 1981.

Here's the link to the source of this information:  http://bit.ly/kKQKaQ