Both Teams More Runs Than Hits In Same Game
Posted by Steve Lombardi on August 2, 2011
Reader "Kahuna Tuna" recently had this to share on last Saturday's Cubs-Cards game.
.
The line score for this past Saturday’s Chicago-St. Louis game read:
Cubs 5 3 2
Cardinals 13 12 2.
How often do both teams end a game with more runs than hits?
As it turns out, not very often — Saturday’s game was just the 27th time since 1919. Here’s the list: http://tinyurl.com/3docnj7
Comments:
None of these games lasted more than nine innings — not surprising, since extra innings would have given both teams’ hit totals a better chance to catch up with their runs. Average hits per team per game was 7.6; average walks per team per game was 7.3. In only five of the 27 games did neither team make an error.
Bob Feller started two of these games (6/29/49 and 5/13/47, the latter a complete-game 7-6 loss with only four hits allowed but ten walks). Steve Gromek started one game (6/6/49) and relieved in another (6/29/49). Of the eight relievers who appeared in two of these games, the one worth a special mention is the Giants’ Tommy Toms, whose major-league career consisted of only 18 appearances over three seasons.
Strangest line score: 4/18/53, White Sox 7 4 2, Indians 6 3 4. You just knew Tommy Byrne had to be involved in one of these games, and this was the one — eleven batters faced, six walks, two hits. Cleveland’s Early Wynn didn’t make it out of the first inning. The Sox’ Minnie Miñoso was caught stealing home, and Indians relief pitcher Al Aber walked twice.
Twins-Angels, bicentennial doubleheader! In game two, Pete Redfern held the Angels hitless through six; California got all of its five runs in the seventh on its only two hits, including a Ron Jackson grand slam. Rod Carew broke the 5-5 tie in the eighth with his own grand slam.
Astros-Giants, 5/4/75, a young J.R. Richard and a John D’Acquisto of any age means lots of walks and strikeouts (20 and 11, respectively). I wonder how much the Candlestick winds drove up the walk totals.
The highest rate of XBH to overall hits was in the 7/8/56 Cubs-Braves game (four doubles and six homers out of 14 total hits).
Bill McCahan started the 5/13/47 A’s-Indians game and took a no-decision. Later in the 1947 season McCahan lost to the Indians on a no-hitter by Don Black (7/10/47, first game) and then pitched a no-hitter of his own over Washington (9/3/47). It was a pretty eventful year for a guy who made only 40 major-league starts.
Several of these games saw epic bullpen meltdowns. On 6/26/99, Bartolo Colón, leading 7-1 in the bottom of the eighth, ran into trouble against the Royals. Relievers Paul Shuey, Ricardo Rincón and Steve Karsay allowed four hits and five walks, and by the time they were done the Royals led 11-7. On 4/25/99, the Orioles’ Arthur Rhodes and Mike Timlin gave up two in the eighth and three in the ninth (Tony Phillips’ three-run homer, 54% WPA) to transform the Orioles’ newly earned 10-6 lead into an 11-10 loss. On 4/14/98, the expansion Diamondbacks, having just tied the Cardinals 5-5, turned the game over to their bullpen (Clint Sodowsky, Omar Daal, Scott Brow, Barry Manuel). Two innings, seven hits and five walks later, St. Louis led 15-5. On 7/2/95, Toronto’s Woody Williams left the game with two outs in the eighth and a comfortable 7-2 lead, but Danny Cox and Tim Crabtree gave up five hits and seven runs in the ninth and the Orioles won 9-7. Two consecutive two-out errors by the Jays didn’t help matters. On 4/30/66, Boston’s Earl Wilson left the game with one out and the bases empty in the top of the eighth, leading 9-7, and witnessed the following performance from relievers Ken Sanders, Dick Radatz, and Dan Osinski: single, out, single, walk, double, homer, triple, single, homer. The Angels won 16-9. On 8/7/56, Milwaukee’s Gene Conley, who had pitched 5.2 innings of one-run ball in relief of shelled starter Bob Buhl, gave up five runs in the top of the ninth as the Cubs rallied for a 10-6 win. Finally, on 6/29/49, Detroit starter Ted Gray and reliever Dizzy Trout surrendered six runs in the bottom of the ninth to give the game to the Indians, 8-7.
Fun stuff! And, thanks to "Kahuna Tuna" for sharing this!
August 2nd, 2011 at 2:01 pm
Here's a chart so you can see scores and link to boxes:
7/30/2011: Cardinals 13, Cubs 5
4/25/2010: Angels 8, Yankees 4
5/17/2009: Dodgers 12, Marlins 5
8/10/2007: A's 16, Tigers 10
7/20/2002: Blue Jays 12, Devil Rays 10
8/12/2001: Red Sox 12, Orioles 10
6/26/1999: Royals 11, Indians 7
4/25/1999: A's 11, Orioles 10
4/29/1998: White Sox 16, Orioles 7
4/14/1998: Cardinals 15, Diamondbacks 5
4/19/1997: Phillies 10, Expos 8
7/2/1995: Orioles 9, Blue Jays 7
7/29/1989: Mariners 14, A's 6
6/30/1977: Reds 11, Giants 5
7/4/1976 (2nd game): Twins 9, Angels 5
5/4/1975 (2nd game): Astros 12, Giants 8
4/30/1966: Angels 16, Red Sox 9
4/24/1960: Yankees 15, Orioles 9
7/8/1956: Cubs 10, Braves 6
4/18/1953: White Sox 7, Indians 6
5/18/1950: Red Sox 13, Tigers 12
6/29/1949 (2nd game): Indians 8, Tigers 7
6/6/1949: Indians 11, A's 5
4/24/1948: Dodgers 11, Phillies 4
5/13/1947: A's 7, Indians 6
4/19/1928: Tigers 9, Browns 8
9/10/1925: Pirates 9, Cardinals 5
August 2nd, 2011 at 3:44 pm
I don't mean to be Debbie Downer, but the link showed 4,221 matches...
August 2nd, 2011 at 3:58 pm
The link probably includes games where only 1 team got more runs than hits.
Very pretty article today! Nice colors.
August 2nd, 2011 at 4:47 pm
At the risk of sounding ungrateful, I was hoping Steve would post my comments in the usual black type and include a display version of the linked SHARE chart, edited to show only the games where both teams had R > H.
I've posted a comment that includes links to each of the box scores, but it is "awaiting moderation," presumably because of all the hyperlinks.
So that's my sad story. Now, how about some of those crazy games? I guess when you trot out relievers named Ken Sanders, Dick Radatz and Dan Osinski, you should expect baserunners, ¿no? S-R-O.
August 2nd, 2011 at 5:34 pm
I was at the 4/14/98 game between the D'backs and Cards. Besides McGwire's three blasts, the thing that always stood out to me about that game was the fact that had Travis Lee not followed up the Matt Williams' grand slam with a meaningless double, Arizona would have had just 5 baserunners in the game with all of them scoring. I'm sure someone here can find the record for most runs scored by a team where total baserunners = runs scored...
August 2nd, 2011 at 5:57 pm
the record for most runs scored by a team where total baserunners = runs scored
I believe the answer is 10, done twice — the first time in 1925, and the second time in 1962.
August 2nd, 2011 at 6:26 pm
Kahuna, you absolutely rock. Master of the PI and a decent writer to boot. Could you be a guest blogger while John Autin is on vacation? 🙂
How do youpick up on these crooked line scores?
May the Padres win next year's WS!
August 2nd, 2011 at 6:32 pm
Steve, picky point, but why couldn't Kahuna's blog have had the status of being posted in black, not blue?
August 2nd, 2011 at 6:47 pm
Err, by my count of the play-by play, that 1962 game had 10 runs on 12 baserunners. One was CS, and one was wiped out on a double play. LOB = 0 does not mean no baserunners were eliminated.
August 2nd, 2011 at 7:22 pm
Well, Shazbot, you got me there. I was using the LOB = 0 criterion. I did not count baserunners.
Send me an e-mail and I'll give you my address for service of process. (-;þ
August 2nd, 2011 at 7:36 pm
My correction to #6:
Most runs scored by team where total baserunners equals runs scored is nine — Indians over Twins, April 8, 2002.
August 2nd, 2011 at 8:26 pm
Neil, for your kind words in #7, grounded even as they are in misperception, I thank you. I'll be just as glad as you when M'sieu Autin gets back.
I love games where teams have more runs than hits. The line score of such a game is incredibly provocative to me. It just cries out for investigation — something a little strange must have happened. I did a little PI digging and discovered that R>H happens about once every 74 games, whereas R=H happens about once every 43 games.
August 2nd, 2011 at 8:54 pm
OFF-TOPIC ALERT: On the Yankees (rain-delayed) pre-game show, Ken Singleton just noted that Adam Dunn has 15 games this season with 0 hits and at least 3 strikeouts. I suppose it's not that surprising but nevertheless still interesting to learn that he has already tied Mark Reynolds '10 for second most such games in a season, and is just one behind Reynolds '09 for the most. Even if his season turns around starting today, the record appears to be his.
Most in a career:
Sammy Sosa 94
Reggie Jackson 92
Rob Deer 86
Jim Thome 82
Adam Dunn 79
August 2nd, 2011 at 8:55 pm
(and yes, I'm assuming no one prior to 1919 would appear on the leaders list.)
August 3rd, 2011 at 12:36 am
@ Kahuna
I too love strange box scores.
Here is one you may find chewable.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN200305260.shtml
In it we have the only game in MLB history where a team (Pirates) had > 10 runs, 10 SO and XBH = 0. Also they had a CS and 2 GDIP.
They did however have 8 BB and 2 HBP, which I'm sure helped.
August 3rd, 2011 at 12:44 am
Sorry, should read: greater or equal to 10 runs (10). Less than 10 hits (8). Greater than 10 SOs (14). And XBH = 0.
August 3rd, 2011 at 3:56 am
Duke, that box score is just full of luscious goodness. Kerry Wood pitches seven innings with a Game Score of 77, and then in the eighth the Pirates nibble away at the Cubs bullpen for six singles, some walks and a hit batsman and get nine runs out of it. Thanks!
Now, a treat for you. Want to have a big inning with just one single? This is how you do it.
R > H happens about once every 74 games, whereas R = H happens about once every 43 games.
I should have finished my thought there. With R > H occurring in about 1.3% of all games, and R = H in about 2.3%, our default condition (so to speak) R < H occurs in more than 96% of all games. Thus my fascination with R ≤ H games.
August 3rd, 2011 at 4:13 am
Oops . . . "R ≥: H games".
In the annals of double-R = H games, Sandy Koufax's perfect game is at one end of a spectrum, and this 1955 game is way over at the other end.
August 3rd, 2011 at 4:14 am
Oops again! "R ≥ H games".
August 3rd, 2011 at 8:57 am
Kahuna,
thanks for your appreciation of that oddity of a box score and thanks for sharing yours.
what is stranger on that wood box score is him and Fogg both had a GS over 70. And When u think the Pirates benefited from all the BBs, 4 of them came from Woods, as did one hit. So 5 of the 16 Base Runners came from Woods and produced no runs.
Also once Woods left the game, 7 straight batters reached in the eight, knocking out two pitchers for the small Bears without recording an out.
I'm sure Kerry had some heartburn, after that game.
Due to injuries, being on a loosing team and never getting Wins due to a soddy bullpen, therefore, never getting that much CY attention, I imagine his career must be one of the more frustrating, for fans and himself, considering the hype he brought.
Two fun Box Scores to check out and one of the worse tactical plays in history of MLB, were in the 2000 Cards Mets series. Ankiel totally melted down. During his second meltdown, after walking the lead-off hitter and. Exhibiting no control in 2 straight games, the Mets sacrifice after he walks the second batter??????
Why?
The next two pitches after the sacrifice sail for WPs. Never a worse waste of an out. And it was Edgardo Alfonso who sac-ed, one of the Mets best hitters.
baffling.
August 3rd, 2011 at 5:22 pm
That 1953 Chicago-Cleveland game is the only one with R > 1.5 H for both teams.
Teams have had R > H 4217 times since 1919 -- their record in those games is 3694-523, for an .867 win pct. If you take away the games where both teams had R > H, it's 3667-496, for a win pct. of .881. I wouldn't have thought it would be that high, but I guess it's good to score runs very efficiently. Teams with R > H averaged 8.16 hits, 6.57 walks and 0.48 HBP per game.
August 4th, 2011 at 2:14 pm
Teams with R > H averaged 8.16 hits, 6.57 walks and 0.48 HBP per game.
Not to mention 9.69 runs per game (10.21 RPG in victories).
August 4th, 2011 at 3:06 pm
Off the topic, but . . .
4/12/94: Eight runs on two hits.
August 5th, 2011 at 1:37 pm
Also, one postseason game fits this category.