Low-Hit Game in Minnesota Saturday: Swarzak vs. Weaver

Posted by John Autin on May 29, 2011

Last night in Minneapolis:

Twins RHP Anthony Swarzak did not allow a hit until Peter Bourjos doubled with 1 out in the 8th inning. Francisco Liriano already has a no-no for the Twins this year. The only no-hitters by Twins righties were by Scott Erickson in 1994 and Dean Chance in 1967.
Swarzak, Matt Capps and Alex Burnett held the Angels to 1 hit in 10 innings. Since 1919, there have been just 16 games of 1 hit or less in 10+ innings.
Jered Weaver allowed 2 hits in 9 scoreless innings, while Swarzak allowed 1 hit in 8 IP. Since 1919, there have been just 34 games in which both starters went 8+ IP and allowed 2 hits or less.

Minnesota finally broke through in the 10th with 4 straight hits against Hisanori Takahashi and Kevin Jepsen.

Team Pitching Games of 10+ IP Allowing 1 Hit or Less, 1919-2011:

Rk	Date	Tm	Opp	Rslt	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	WP	Pit	Str	IR	IS	BF	AB	2B	3B	IBB	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS
1	2011-05-28	MIN	LAA	W 1-0	10.0	1	0	0	2	5	0	121	81	0	0	33	31	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	2010-07-22	PHI	STL	W 2-0	11.0	1	0	0	2	9	0	131	89	0	0	35	33	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
3	2005-05-31	CHC	LAD	W 2-1	10.0	1	1	0	3	12	0	165	103	0	0	36	31	1	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0
4	1997-07-12	PIT	HOU	W 3-0	10.0	0	0	0	3	11	0	139	84	0	0	34	30	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
5	1995-06-03	MON	SDP	W 1-0	10.0	1	0	0	0	9	1	112	75	1	0	31	31	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
6	1993-09-09	ATL	SDP	W 1-0	10.0	1	0	0	1	12	0	134	91	0	0	32	31	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
7	1986-08-20	PHI	SFG	W 1-0	10.0	1	0	0	1	10	0			0	0	32	30	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
8	1986-07-22	HOU	MON	W 1-0	10.0	1	0	0	4	15	0			2	0	35	31	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
9	1982-10-01	NYM	PHI	W 1-0	10.0	1	0	0	6	7	0					37	30	0	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
10	1976-06-21	TEX	OAK	W 1-0	10.0	1	0	0	4	8	0					36	32	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
11	1975-05-19	SDP	STL	W 1-0	10.0	1	0	0	3	3	0					34	31	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
12	1965-09-19	PIT	PHI	W 1-0	10.0	1	0	0	5	12	0					37	31	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
13	1965-08-19 (1)	CIN	CHC	W 1-0	10.0	0	0	0	10	12	0					40	28	0	0	1	1	1	0	1	0	0
14	1962-05-22	NYY	LAA	W 2-1	12.0	1	1	1	7	2	0			0	0	43	34	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	1
15	1959-05-26	PIT	MLN	L 0-1	12.2	1	1	0	1	8	0					40	38	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
16	1934-09-18	SLB	BOS	L 1-2	10.0	1	2	1	7	9	0					41	34	0	0		0	0

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/29/2011.

Both SPs Going 8+ IP on 2 Hits or Less, 1919-2011:

Rk	Tm	Opp	Date	#Matching
1	MIN	LAA	2011-05-28	2
2	SDP	SEA	2009-06-16	2
3	STL	MIL	2009-05-25	2
4	TOR	OAK	2004-07-20	2
5	NYY	TBD	2003-06-18	2
6	LAD	MON	1994-07-05	2
7	CLE	KCR	1992-07-23	2
8	CHW	SEA	1987-09-13	2
9	NYY	CHW	1987-05-05	2
10	MON	SFG	1986-09-07	2
11	PHI	NYM	1982-10-01	2
12	PHI	SFG	1980-09-02	2
13	LAD	HOU	1980-04-19	2
14	BAL	BOS	1978-09-06	2
15	CIN	SDP	1975-07-03	2
16	CHC	SDP	1974-06-19	2
17	NYM	LAD	1969-06-04	2
18	MIN	WSA	1968-08-26 (2)	2
19	DET	BAL	1967-04-30 (1)	2
20	NYM	PHI	1966-06-28	2
21	CHC	LAD	1965-09-09	2
22	KCA	BAL	1964-09-12	2
23	CIN	MLN	1964-09-11	2
24	CIN	CHC	1964-06-30	2
25	CHW	LAA	1963-04-13	2
26	NYY	CHW	1959-07-17	2
27	CLE	CHW	1956-04-19	2
28	SLB	CHW	1953-04-16	2
29	CLE	SLB	1952-04-23	2
30	BSN	CIN	1951-05-15	2
31	BOS	DET	1946-06-25	2
32	BOS	CLE	1944-07-31	2
33	DET	CHW	1940-05-11	2
34	PHA	SLB	1927-08-06 (2)	2

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/29/2011.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 29th, 2011 at 2:58 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

8 Responses to “Low-Hit Game in Minnesota Saturday: Swarzak vs. Weaver”

Neil L. Says:
May 29th, 2011 at 5:27 pm
JA, both lists are really interesting.

I have a feeling that we may be seeing more qualifying games on both lists this year.

That makes me want to crunch some numbers and see just how much run-scoring is down this year compared to previous ones. Everybody's talking about the decline of offense and the rise of pitching but I'm not sure how steep the offensive drop-off actually is .

What brought 2011 offensive decline into focus for me was thinking that my local team was one of the worst in the AL offensively but then seeing that they were fourth best in RPG this year behind only Boston, New York and Cleveland.

And that doesn't include their 13-run outburst today.

Perhaps previous-years' offensive standards no longer apply and all home-town fans think their team is under-performing at the plate!

Just had to check the fourth game on the second list and was surprised to find it was an amazing 14-inning affair that ended at 1-0 with a total of 11 hits.

Nine of the hits occurred in the ninth and extra innings.

Interesting that there were no qualifying games for your first list between 1998 and 2004. Statistical noise or further proof of an unusual offensive outburst in that era?

Either way, it was an amazing game between LAA and Minnesota, the kind that makes you sorry "some one had to lose".
John Autin Says:
May 29th, 2011 at 5:49 pm
Neil, on a random tangent re: the Jays' 13-run outburst today:
Until I saw the box score, I didn't realize that not only was Aaron Hill (26 HRs last year) without a HR before today, but also Edwin Encarnacion (21 HRs last year). And they connected back-to-back in the 1st inning!

It was the first HR in 38 games for Hill. His longest homer drought in 2009-10 was 14 games.

Encarnacion had gone 37 games without a HR, all this year. He closed the 2010 season homering in 4 straight games.
Neil L. Says:
May 29th, 2011 at 6:26 pm
@2
JA, yes an unusual combined HR drought.

Aaron Hill has been the victim of "bad luck" this year in some of his swings, but he has also left a boatload of runners on base and has popped the ball up a lot (without power) in his at bats. He has consumed a lot of outs both last year and this. Arencibia hit ahead of him in the line up today.

Edwin "Stone Hands, Wild Arm" Encarnacion is unplayable at any position in the field. The Jays even tried him at 1B for a game, with disastrous results. Look at his combined position fielding percentage.

Jayson Nix broke an 0-47 (I think) slump for Toronto third baseman by getting a couple of hits today. And that at a "power" position.

The Brett Lawrie watch is on because of the offensive black hole that is the Jays' 3B position. Supposedly, management wants Lawrie to improve his K/BB ratio at Las Vegas before calling him up.

There is speculation that the team may eat Encarnacion's contract when Lawrie comes to the big show.
DoubleDiamond Says:
May 29th, 2011 at 10:19 pm
It's interesting that the two earliest games in the first list were both losses for the team that allowed one hit or less in 10+ innings, while the rest of them were victories. That second earliest game, of course, was the famous Harvey Haddix "perfect game".
Brendan Says:
May 29th, 2011 at 10:41 pm
Only two no-hitters on the first list, though two other games (1995 Pedro Martinez and 1959 Harvey Haddix) were perfect through 9.

The more recent no-hitter ended on a walk-off HR, which kinda makes me wonder what the heck would have happened in the Haddix game if Adcock's hit was with 2 out. Also, could Aaron have been called out for leaving the basepaths, making the final score 2-0 rather than 1-0 as Adcock would have been allowed to score? Wow, I've been going on for a while here.
Johnny Twisto Says:
May 30th, 2011 at 12:36 am
That makes me want to crunch some numbers and see just how much run-scoring is down this year compared to previous ones.

Not sure what you're looking to crunch but a simple answer can be found here:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/bat.shtml
4.18 runs per game, lowest since 1992 (4.12). Down a run since the 2000 peak.
(N.B., those who proclaim this due to STEROIDS: Scoring dropped more than a half-run from 2000 to 2002, more than it has dropped from 2002 to now.)
John Autin Says:
May 30th, 2011 at 1:19 am
@4, DoubleDiamond -- And the 1934 game was by the legendary Bobo Newsom, the first of 5 CG 1-hitters in his career. He never did get a no-hitter.
Friday Hits! « Puckett's Pond | A Minnesota Twins Blog Says:
June 3rd, 2011 at 11:16 am
[...] Twins doing something historically exceptional? That’s what John Autin of Baseball-Reference found out when examining Anthony Swarzak and [...]

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