John Tsitouris & Nine Other Guys You Probably Know
Posted by Steve Lombardi on June 2, 2009
A quick and fun list from Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Pitching Streak Finder - guys, since 1954, with 3 or more games in a row with 9+ IP and 3 hits or less allowed:
StreakStart Streak End Games W L GS CG SHO GF SV IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA HBP WP BK Teams +-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Roger Clemens 1998-08-20 1998-08-30 3 3 0 3 3 3 0 0 27 8 0 0 5 31 0 0.00 0 0 0 TOR Teddy Higuera 1987-08-26 1987-09-06 3 3 0 3 3 3 0 0 28 6 0 0 7 26 0 0.00 1 0 0 MIL Nolan Ryan 1976-09-29 1977-04-07 3 3 0 3 3 3 0 0 27 7 0 0 17 31 0 0.00 0 0 0 CAL Burt Hooton 1971-09-15 1972-04-16 3 3 0 3 3 2 0 0 27 5 2 2 12 27 1 0.67 0 0 0 CHC Woodie Fryman 1966-06-26 1966-07-05 3 3 0 3 3 3 0 0 27 7 0 0 1 20 0 0.00 0 0 0 PIT Jim Maloney 1964-09-25 1965-04-19 3 2 0 3 2 2 0 0 29 5 0 0 7 29 0 0.00 0 2 0 CIN John Tsitouris 1963-09-15 1963-09-27 3 3 0 3 3 2 0 0 27 8 1 1 5 17 1 0.33 0 0 0 CIN Sandy Koufax 1963-07-03 1963-07-12 3 3 0 3 3 3 0 0 27 9 0 0 2 26 0 0.00 0 0 0 LAD Bob Gibson 1962-07-08 1962-07-18 3 3 0 3 3 1 0 0 27 9 2 2 11 21 1 0.67 3 0 0 STL Billy Pierce 1957-05-30 1957-06-08 3 3 0 3 3 2 0 0 28 8 1 1 6 22 0 0.32 0 1 0 CHW
To be candid, I've heard of all these pitchers, before, sans John Tsitouris. That's the beauty of baseball, ain't it?
June 2nd, 2009 at 11:31 pm
So I randomly looked at Jim Maloney's games... his second game came with 2 games left in the season, with his team tied for first. He pitched 11 innings that day, but didn't get the win. Ironically enough, John Tsitouris got the loss in that game!
June 3rd, 2009 at 9:52 am
Woodie Fryman...only eight baserunners in three games! He faced only 87 batters total. The middle game was a one-hitter with no walks, and that one baserunner was caught stealing, so he faced the minimum 27. I didn't even realize he was a Pirate first. '66 was his rookie year.
June 4th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Speaking of Fryman, look at the difference between him and Nolan Ryan. Both got the job done and didn't allow a run, but with vastly different K/BB totals and ratios. Steve's right--that's the beauty of baseball.