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Joaquín Antonio Benoit Peña (born July 26, 1977, in Santiago, Dominican Republic) is a Dominican professional baseball relief pitcher with the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball in the United States.

Baseball career[]

Texas Rangers[]

Signing with the Rangers at the age of 16, Benoit had been with the organization for his entire professional career. Except rehab assignments after stints on the disabled list, he had been with the Major League club full-time since midway through the 2003 season. Benoit's seven years with the Texas Rangers made him the second-longest tenured member of the team after Michael Young.

Originally a starter, Benoit was moved to the bullpen part-time in the 2003 season. Since then, he had served in various relief roles, making spot starts as necessary.

Benoit holds the Major League record for having recorded the longest save in history.[1][2] He relieved Todd Van Poppel at the start of the third inning of a game against the Baltimore Orioles on September 3, 2002.

In 2006, Benoit ranked in the top-10 American League relievers in strikeouts, innings pitched, and percentage of inherited runners who scored.[3]

On January 27, 2009, Benoit underwent surgery to fix a torn rotator cuff, and missed the 2009 season.[4]

Tampa Bay Rays[]

Benoit was signed to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training by the Tampa Bay Rays for the 2010 season. He was called up to the Rays and debuted with the team April 29, 2010. He established himself as a setup reliever and did not give up a run until his 13th appearance of the season against his former club, the Texas Rangers. After joining the Rays, Benoit's ERA did not go higher than 1.40 and he became a setup man for Rays closer Rafael Soriano. His strong season resulted in his winning the Tony Conigliaro Award.[5]

Detroit Tigers[]

On November 19, 2010, Benoit signed a three-year contract with the Detroit Tigers.[6]

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  5. http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20101207&content_id=16276032&vkey=news_det&c_id=det
  6. Tigers agree to terms with Joaquin Benoit Detroit Tigers Press Release November 19, 2010
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