Cliff Lee’s consecutive shutouts and Kyle Lohse’s 0 BB, 0 K game
Posted by Andy on June 23, 2011
In last night's Phillies-Cardinals game, both starting pitchers did something pretty unusual.
Cliff Lee pitched his second consecutive complete-game shutout. JA already posted some of this info but here are the longest consecutive shutout streaks going back to 2001:
| Rk | Strk Start | End | Games | CG | SHO | IP | H | BB | SO | Tm | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brandon Webb | 2007-08-05 | 2007-08-17 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 27.0 | 14 | 2 | 20 | ARI |
| 2 | Roy Halladay | 2009-09-25 | 2009-09-30 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 18.0 | 10 | 2 | 15 | TOR |
| 3 | Roy Oswalt | 2008-09-06 | 2008-09-11 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 18.0 | 4 | 2 | 10 | HOU |
| 4 | Jeremy Sowers | 2006-07-22 | 2006-07-28 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 18.0 | 9 | 2 | 7 | CLE |
| 5 | John Lackey | 2006-07-07 | 2006-07-14 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 18.0 | 6 | 2 | 20 | LAA |
| 6 | Brandon Webb | 2006-05-20 | 2006-05-26 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 18.0 | 11 | 2 | 13 | ARI |
| 7 | Jon Garland | 2005-04-25 | 2005-05-01 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 18.0 | 8 | 2 | 9 | CHW |
| 8 | Dontrelle Willis | 2005-04-08 | 2005-04-13 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 18.0 | 8 | 2 | 10 | FLA |
| 9 | Cory Lidle | 2004-08-29 | 2004-09-04 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 18.0 | 7 | 1 | 12 | PHI |
| 10 | Dontrelle Willis | 2003-06-16 | 2003-06-21 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 14.0 | 3 | 2 | 12 | FLA |
| 11 | Matt Morris | 2003-05-19 | 2003-05-24 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 18.0 | 13 | 2 | 11 | STL |
| 12 | Curt Schilling | 2003-05-09 | 2003-05-14 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 18.0 | 6 | 1 | 24 | ARI |
| 13 | A.J. Burnett | 2002-06-15 | 2002-06-20 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 15.0 | 5 | 7 | 14 | FLA |
| 14 | Mark Mulder | 2001-07-06 | 2001-07-12 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 18.0 | 7 | 1 | 16 | OAK |
| 15 | Freddy Garcia | 2001-07-01 | 2001-07-06 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 18.0 | 12 | 3 | 7 | SEA |
Pretty good group there, although Jeremy Sowers sticks out. I wonder if he had the shortest major-league career for a player ever to throw back-to-back shutouts? That's a question that we can actually answer with the new two-level PI search feature. (But I don't have time to answer it now!)
Meanwhile, Lee's opposite number, Kyle Lohse, pitched 8 innings without issuing a single walk or registering a single strikeout.
Here are the last 22 times that's happened, which goes back to 1988:
| Rk | Player | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | App,Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | Pit | Str | GSc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tommy Hunter | 2010-08-22 | TEX | BAL | W 6-4 | GS-8 ,W | 8.0 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 95 | 73 | 60 |
| 2 | Justin Verlander | 2006-05-17 | DET | MIN | W 2-0 | GS-8 ,W | 8.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 103 | 64 | 70 |
| 3 | Joel Pineiro | 2006-05-01 | SEA | MIN | W 8-2 | CG 9 ,W | 9.0 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 106 | 77 | 61 |
| 4 | Scott Karl | 1999-05-05 | MIL | FLA | W 2-0 | GS-8 ,W | 8.0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 105 | 69 | 68 |
| 5 | Pedro Astacio | 1994-04-24 | LAD | MON | W 7-1 | CG 9 ,W | 9.0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 108 | 67 | 69 |
| 6 | Zane Smith | 1993-08-13 | PIT | FLA | W 8-3 | GS-8 ,W | 8.0 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 93 | 61 | 50 |
| 7 | Tom Glavine | 1993-06-15 | ATL | NYM | W 2-1 | CG 9 ,W | 9.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 79 | 53 | 71 |
| 8 | Bill Wegman | 1992-07-11 | MIL | KCR | W 5-1 | CG 9 ,W | 9.0 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 134 | 84 | 57 |
| 9 | Bill Gullickson | 1992-05-26 | DET | KCR | W 8-1 | CG 9 ,W | 9.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 84 | 55 | 71 |
| 10 | Bob Tewksbury | 1991-09-01 | STL | SFG | W 14-1 | CG 9 ,W | 9.0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 95 | 65 | 69 |
| 11 | Bob Welch | 1991-04-26 | OAK | CAL | W 4-1 | GS-8 ,W | 8.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 101 | 66 | 68 |
| 12 | Bob Tewksbury | 1990-08-29 | STL | CIN | W 9-1 | CG 9 ,W | 9.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 75 | 58 | 71 |
| 13 | Bill Swift | 1990-07-15 | SEA | CLE | W 7-0 | GS-8 ,W | 8.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 74 | 52 | 76 |
| 14 | Dennis Rasmussen | 1990-04-24 | SDP | CHC | W 13-3 | GS-8 ,W | 8.0 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 95 | 59 | 52 |
| 15 | Jeff Ballard | 1989-08-21 | BAL | MIL | W 5-0 | SHO9 ,W | 9.0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 112 | 73 | 73 |
| 16 | Tom Browning | 1989-06-29 | CIN | ATL | L 1-2 | GS-8 | 8.0 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 75 | 55 | 62 |
| 17 | Mike Witt | 1989-05-18 | CAL | BOS | L 2-5 | GS-8 ,L | 8.0 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 111 | 74 | 42 |
| 18 | Buddy Black | 1989-04-30 | CLE | MIN | L 1-2 | CG 8 ,L | 8.0 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 97 | 66 | 52 |
| 19 | Don August | 1988-09-11 | MIL | SEA | W 5-3 | GS-8 ,W | 8.0 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 115 | 76 | 56 |
| 20 | Allan Anderson | 1988-08-04 | MIN | TOR | W 2-1 | CG 9 ,W | 9.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 102 | 65 | 75 |
| 21 | Bob Ojeda | 1988-07-23 | NYM | ATL | L 1-6 | GS-8 ,L | 8.0 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 96 | 64 | 58 |
| 22 | Jerry Reuss | 1988-06-27 | CHW | KCR | L 1-2 | CG 8 ,L | 8.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 78 | 49 | 62 |
If you look at the App,Dec column, you'll see that Lohse is the first guy to lose such a game since 1988.
June 23rd, 2011 at 8:16 am
It's fitting to see Bob Tewksbury did it twice in your last list.
June 23rd, 2011 at 9:04 am
Wow, forget how GOOD Webb was. What a shame.
another in a list of guys who blew out a great or promising career.
Joel Zumaya
Mark Prior
Ben Sheets
Stausburg
I hate seeing great chuckers never hit potential, although Webb did get the Cy.
June 23rd, 2011 at 9:18 am
Sowers also did it in his 5th and 6th major league games.
June 23rd, 2011 at 9:31 am
Love these starts that feature pitch counts in the 70s for a complete game. The one start by Tewksbury was 2 hours flat, even with the Cards scoring 9 runs.
June 23rd, 2011 at 9:37 am
@ Tim L.
I think a Tewk/Maddux match up circa '92-'95 would of been a 60 minute game with one and 175 pitches total.
June 23rd, 2011 at 9:37 am
one BB i meant
June 23rd, 2011 at 9:46 am
Really surprised to see Verlander on the 0K/0BB list, but it was his rookie year and his K/9 was only 6.0 that year.
@1 and 5. I loved to watch Tewksbury pitch.
June 23rd, 2011 at 10:09 am
surprised to see so many NL pitchers to so this 0k/0bb list
June 23rd, 2011 at 10:23 am
The proliferation of K's in the past decade make this rare indeed. I think I'm a dinosaur now but I prefer seeing defense win games than strikeouts.
I wasn't around at the time but I've read about Spahn's duel with Marichal at age 42. His line:
15.1 IP 1 walk 2 strikeouts
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/02/sports/baseball/02nohit.html
June 23rd, 2011 at 10:42 am
As a Phils fan, I love seeing Halladay and Oswalt near the top of the list. Cliff Lee has been terrific in his last four starts.
June 23rd, 2011 at 10:49 am
@9
There's a book out on this game.
http://www.amazon.com/Greatest-Game-Ever-Pitched-Marichal/dp/1600783414/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1308840485&sr=1-1
I have it but haven't read it yet.
June 23rd, 2011 at 11:21 am
Andy --
Jeremy Sowers' major league career was longer than that of Karl Spooner, who threw back-to-back shutouts for Brooklyn in the final week of the '54 season -- his MLB debut -- and pitched much of '55 (8-6 W-L) but no more. So Spooner, not Sowers, is in the running for shortest major-league career for a player who threw back-to-back shutouts.
June 23rd, 2011 at 11:21 am
If you look at the App,Dec column, you'll see that Lohse is the first guy to lose such a game since 1988.
except for the two guys who did it in 1989 (Witt, Black).
How many of these games featured 0 HBP to go along with 0 BB/K?
June 23rd, 2011 at 12:22 pm
@ #5
Tewksbury faced Maddux 3 times in his career and all 3 games were quick, though thanks to commercials, more than an hour long.
Tewksbury got the win vs. Maddux on 9/7/1990 in 2:18
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN199009070.shtml
Maddux hurled a CG win on 6/15/1992 in 2:01
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN199206150.shtml
Tewksbury got a SHO win on 7/8/1994 in 2:00, he nearly had a 0 BB 0 K game but struck out Javy Lopez in the 8th.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ATL/ATL199407080.shtml
June 23rd, 2011 at 12:40 pm
One of my favorite Play Index searches turned up two games (from a very long time ago) in which both starting pitchers pitched complete games, walked none and struck out none.
Indians 7, White Sox 0 (8/28/1924, game 1), shutout by Sherry Smith over Sloppy Thurston.
Braves 3, Robins 2 (6/30/1922), Dana Fillingim over Leon Cadore.
Neither game went to the bottom of the ninth.
June 23rd, 2011 at 12:46 pm
Webb has the 12th highest ERA+ among pitchers who had 1000+ IP under the age of 30 (144). Here is the top 25
Player ERA+
Pedro Martinez 170
Walter Johnson 166
Old Hoss Radbourn 152
Roger Clemens 152
Jim Devlin 151
Ed Walsh 150
Smoky Joe Wood 148
Kid Nichols 146
Dave Foutz 145
Johan Santana 144
Addie Joss 144
Brandon Webb 144
Christy Mathewson 144
Whitey Ford 143
Roy Oswalt 143
Rube Waddell 143
Tom Seaver 142
Pete Alexander 142
Cy Young 141
Lefty Grove 138
Greg Maddux 137
John Clarkson 137
Kevin Appier 137
Mel Parnell 135
Bob Feller 135
Webb is also 21st in Cy Young award shares
June 23rd, 2011 at 12:55 pm
@13, Oneblankspace -- Four games in that 0 BB/0 K list had at least one HBP: Verlander, Welch, Tewksbury 1990, and Ballard.
June 23rd, 2011 at 12:57 pm
@15, Welcome back, Kahuna Tuna!!! Where ya been keepin'? (Or have we just been failing to catch your interest?)
June 23rd, 2011 at 1:15 pm
There was a guy back in the 1980s who pitched back-to-back shutouts. He was 29 and at that point in his career he had 1368 IP with an ERA+ of 104. After those two shutouts, he pitched only 132 more innings in his career with an ERA+ of 61. He was done pitching at age 32. He apparently had no injuries.
Up to and including those 2 shutouts, his ERA+ was 142 for the season (in over 40 IP). The rest of the way it was just 68. Also in over 40 IP.
Any guesses?
June 23rd, 2011 at 1:19 pm
@19, I thought maybe Allan Anderson, but no....
June 23rd, 2011 at 1:23 pm
... but perhaps a different crafty lefty?
June 23rd, 2011 at 1:27 pm
@ Tuna,
Sherry Smith is probably most famous for losing the game with a 13+ IP CG against Babe Ruth's world series record 14 IP CG win in game two of the 1916 WS.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS191610090.shtml
June 23rd, 2011 at 1:28 pm
A lefty, yes. Crafty? Maybe. He struck out less than 4.5 batters per 9 IP. But he was just about average in walks per 9 IP.
June 23rd, 2011 at 1:51 pm
@23, Yeah, I thought it was Randy Jones, but no.
June 23rd, 2011 at 2:06 pm
Steve Trout
June 23rd, 2011 at 2:14 pm
@25, GreggA -- Ah, you must mean Steve "I Just Won You the Pennant [G.Steinbrenner]" Trout!
June 23rd, 2011 at 2:15 pm
I think GreggA is the winner...beat me to it
June 23rd, 2011 at 2:33 pm
I always thought Trout was perfect for Wrigley Field. Over his career, his ERA in Wrigley was 3.75 and 4.34 elsewhere. Considering that offense was 5-8% higher in Wrigley compared to "neutral", Trout was probably 20% better when pitching in a Cubs home uniform.
I don't think he was ever well liked by the Jim Frey/Don Zimmer/Dallas Green old school types who were running the Cub then. Even so, I was shocked when he was traded immediately after throwing consecutive shutouts. And the Yankees seemed to be the worst possible destination for him.
But, one of the players the Cub acquired in the trade for Trout was the aforementioned Bob Tewksbury. Of course, they couldn;t see his potential either and let him get away so he could sign with the Cardinals and he was 11-5 against the Cubs in his career.
June 23rd, 2011 at 3:20 pm
Yes, it is Trout. Sorry no prize. I wonder why he fell so far so fast. I also remember when this happened. How often are pitchers traded who are having a good year and just pitched back-to-back shutouts? Maybe the Cubs saw something that really worried them and thought it was a good time to trade hime.
Does anyone know who initiated the trade? Had Trout been the subject of trade talks before this?
June 23rd, 2011 at 3:25 pm
Here is an interesting news story about the trade
http://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/13/sports/yankees-get-trout-in-deal-with-cubs.html?scp=1&sq=steve+trout&st=nyt
June 23rd, 2011 at 4:03 pm
Verlander? Must have been an imposter in a Tigers uniform.
June 23rd, 2011 at 4:06 pm
How about Jerry Reuss getting through 8 innings only throwing 49 strikes. I suppose if you HBP a bunch of guys you could do it on 8 pitches but in the common case just shy of half of those 49 strikes would have to result in outs.
June 23rd, 2011 at 4:17 pm
or going the other way... Bill Wegman throws 134 pitches without walking or striking out a guy? That's so 1957.
June 23rd, 2011 at 10:13 pm
@16
Cyril, Brandon Webb's going to drop down on your list if he comes back to the majors this year.
He's been roughed up in his Texas AA starts at age 32.
@2
Duke, Brandon Webb would be happy to take Ben Sheets' or Mark Prior's "longevity" at this point in his career wouldn't he?
Also, I wouldn't be too quick to relegate Strasburg to your list. After all he is young.
What can general managers around MLB learn from Washington's handling of their (former) prospect Stephen Strasburg?
June 23rd, 2011 at 11:03 pm
I only looked at guys up to the age of 30, so I don't think Webb will slip
June 23rd, 2011 at 11:10 pm
Steve Trout had a 3.94 career ERA in day games, 4.43 in night games. Lucky for him, he played for the Cubs for 4+ years.
June 23rd, 2011 at 11:29 pm
Perhaps an Englishman named Harry Rodger Webb would be interested in the first table, since he shares his last name with Brandon Webb and his first name with Roy Halladay (whose full name is Harry Leroy Halladay). In the second table, he shares his first name with Harry "Buddy" [aka Bud] Black.
Then again, he may also be interested in the accomplishments of Cliff Lee and maybe J.R. Richard, once of the Astros, and Clayton Richard, since the afore-mentioned Harry Rodger Webb is better known as Cliff Richard.
June 24th, 2011 at 3:03 am
Here's the game count of BB=0, SO=0, 8+ IP games for starters, by decade.
1920-29: 159
1930-39: 121
1940-49: 64
1950-59: 34
1960-69: 11
1970-79: 27
1980-89: 26
1990-99: 11
2000-09: 2
2010-11: 2
June 24th, 2011 at 8:25 am
I have to admit, I liked 1970-1986 baseball. I could have done without the turf. But different styles had equal footing in the game, defense mattered and you didn't average 5 pitching changes a game.
June 24th, 2011 at 9:28 am
How about Cliff Lee in as a pinch-hitter in the third inning of last night's Phillies game? That's enjoying the game.
June 24th, 2011 at 11:51 am
Wow... I had just about forgotten poor Steve Trout. I was going to guess John Tudor, who may as well have had "crafty lefty" on the back of his uni when he was a Cardinal bedevilling the Mets in the 80's.
June 24th, 2011 at 1:46 pm
Interesting that the 60s and 90s had similarly low game counts, but probably for different reasons.
- 60s had lots of complete games, but dominant pitching so very few lacked strikeouts
- 90s and later, of course, had very complete games to begin with, regardless of strikeout or walk results
June 24th, 2011 at 4:16 pm
Too bad one of Tewk's best games isn't on this list, his 2-0 loss in Game 1 of the WS to the Yankees and a highly touted Steve Nebraska.