The pitchers A-Rod homered off most often on the road to 660
If you pitched in the American League between 1995 and 2015, odds are Alex Rodriguez got the best of you at least once.
Even for the best hurlers out there there’s no shame in giving up home runs to the great ones. Willie Mays hit 18 of his 660 career homers off Hall of Fame left-hander Warren Spahn while Hank Aaron hit 17 of his 755 off Hall of Fame right-hander Don Drysdale. Barry Bonds hit eight apiece against Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, and Curt Schilling.
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So who has A-Rod had the most success against in his career? There are a number of pitchers Rodriguez has homered off five times, including Barry Zito, Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte, but there are a few that have been victimized more than that.
Here are the eight pitchers that A-Rod took deep six or more times on his way to 660:
Jamie Moyer — 6 home runs
Half of A-Rod’s homers against Moyer came in the same week, but in two different games. While with the Yankees, he hit one off Moyer (pitching for the Mariners at the time) on May 9, 2004 and then hit two when they met again May 15, 2004. It’s not a huge surprise to see Moyer on this list. He’s baseball’s all-time leader in home runs allowed at 522.
Jeff Suppan — 6 home runs
Suppan suffered the same fate as Moyer two years earlier. He gave up one A-Rod homer, then with the Rangers, during a May 25, 2002 start for the Royals. Then, Suppan gave up two a week later on May 31, 2002.
Sidney Ponson — 6 home runs
The six home runs A-Rod hit off Ponson are the most he gave up to any individual player. Tied for second place? Derek Jeter with five.
Jarrod Washburn – 7 home runs
A-Rod recorded his first home run off Washburn on July 5, 1999 in a Mariners-Angels game and his seventh almost 10 years later on July 1, 2009 in a Yankees-Mariners game.
Bartolo Colon – 8 home runs
The only active player to make the list, Colon was on the wrong end of one of A-Rod’s four career three-homer games. Rodriguez took Colon deep three times in a 12-4 Yankees win on April 26, 2005 and finished the game 4-for-5 with 10 — that’s right 10 — RBIs.
David Wells – 8 home runs
Believe it or not, every time A-Rod homered against Wells his team was either tied or trailing in the game at the time he hit it. A-Rod’s teams went 2-6 in those games.
Ramon Ortiz – 8 home runs
Seven of those eight dingers came between 2001 and 2003, when A-Rod put up a ludicrous 1.585 OPS in 36 at-bats against Ortiz.
Tim Wakefield – 8 home runs
Turns out A-Rod didn’t have a lot of trouble turning on the knuckleball. Wakefield is the pitcher Rodriguez has faced the most often in his career, making 109 career plate appearances against the longtime Red Sox right-hander.
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Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr
