Johan Santana of Minnesota tripled off Florida's Byung-Hyun Kim in the second inning today at Dolphins Stadium.
Since interleague play started in 1997, Santana is just the fifth AL pitcher to hit a triple.
And checking the list of pitchers who did it, it is not a bunch with a lot of speed:
Omar Olivares for Detroit on June 13, 1997 against Carlos Perez of Montreal.
James Baldwin for Chicago on July 17, 1999 against Kent Bottenfield of St. Louis.
Chris Michalak of Toronto on June 17, 2001 against Tony Armas of Montreal.
Kenny Rogers of Texas on June 11, 2005 against Travis Smith of Florida.
Santana is making a late run at the AL Silver Slugger Award for pitchers. Andy Sonnanstine of Tampa Bay and Erik Bedard of Baltimore both were 2 for 5 at the plate this year, the best among pitchers who batted in more than one game. Jason Hammel of Tampa Bay was 1 for 1. C.C. Sabathia of Cleveland was 2 for 3 in his one game.
Three NL pitchers have hit triples this year: Dontrelle Willis, Jake Peavy, and Micah Owings. No pitcher has had more than one triple in a season since 2005.
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