No RBI for either team in the same game (?!?!?)
Posted by Andy on April 28, 2010
That tile might sound kind of odd, but this sort of thing happens more often than you might think.
In last night's Twins/Tigers game, there were no RBI. The Twins scored an unearned run in the 6th after Jim Thome walked. Because there were two outs, Thome was running all the way on J.J. Hardy's fly ball that was eventually dropped in the outfield, allowing Thome to score. They scored again in the 7th when Michael Cuddyer advanced to home on an E4. The Tigers didn't get any RBI because they got shut out by Francisco Liriano and Jon Rauch.
Believe it or not, this is the second such game already this season. The Mets and Braves pulled it off on Sunday when Jose Reyes advanced to home on an error and there was no other scoring before the game got called in the top of the 6th. Incidentally, this game also features one of the rare cases of a pitcher getting credit for appearing in a game despite not facing a batter or registering an out. Raul Valdes started the top of the 6th and must have thrown at least one pitch but the game was called before the plate appearance was completed. (I am assuming this is what must have happened.)
Here are the last 20 times that both teams have failed to register an RBI in the same game:
| Rk | Tm | Opp | Date | #Matching |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DET | MIN | 2010-04-27 | 2 |
| 2 | ATL | NYM | 2010-04-25 | 2 |
| 3 | NYM | PHI | 2009-05-06 | 2 |
| 4 | PIT | TOR | 2008-06-20 | 2 |
| 5 | CHW | COL | 2008-06-14 | 2 |
| 6 | COL | SFG | 2008-06-11 | 2 |
| 7 | LAA | MIN | 2008-04-02 | 2 |
| 8 | FLA | SDP | 2007-07-04 | 2 |
| 9 | MIN | OAK | 2007-06-02 | 2 |
| 10 | SEA | TBD | 2006-05-10 | 2 |
| 11 | FLA | HOU | 2006-04-03 | 2 |
| 12 | ARI | MIL | 2005-07-27 | 2 |
| 13 | LAA | OAK | 2005-04-16 | 2 |
| 14 | HOU | MIL | 2004-09-19 | 2 |
| 15 | ATL | MON | 2004-07-06 | 2 |
| 16 | HOU | TEX | 2004-06-27 | 2 |
| 17 | NYM | SFG | 2002-08-20 | 2 |
| 18 | ANA | SEA | 2002-04-23 | 2 |
| 19 | CLE | MIN | 2001-09-28 | 2 |
| 20 | ATL | FLA | 2001-09-24 | 2 |
asas
April 28th, 2010 at 9:15 am
Yes, Valdes threw one pitch to Heyward in the 6th before the umps called everyone in. That one pitch prevented Pelfrey from getting credit for a complete game!
April 28th, 2010 at 10:39 am
Yes, on Sunday, Valdes threw 1 pitch for the Mets (a ball) before the game was delayed and eventually called.
April 28th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
That rain delay cost me my fantasy game. Tommy Hanson was rolling, and if could have struck out two more guys, I'd have won. Damn weather!
April 28th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
It's probably good Pelfrey didn't get credit for a complete game when he only pitched 5 innings
April 28th, 2010 at 5:57 pm
I presume Pelfrey also doesn't get credit for a shutout.
So, what's the (Play-Index era) record for most total runs scored in a game where neither team gets an RBI?
April 28th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
No RBI for either team has happened in the World Series, eg Game 1 in 1986, when the Red Sox beat the Mets 1-0 on an error by Tim Teufel...
April 28th, 2010 at 7:38 pm
I haven't had a chance to check all of the above games, but a situation that seems, to me, to really be in the spirit of this post would be one in which each team scores at least one run. In other words, not a 1-0 or even 2-0 game. Except for the rare occasion of a tie, the minimum score for such a game would be 2-1.
April 28th, 2010 at 8:09 pm
DD- It's happened 9 times in the database and none since 1980.
Generated 4/28/2010.
April 28th, 2010 at 8:09 pm
In Andy Hawkins' lost no-hitter, all 4 runs scored without benefit of an RBI.
April 28th, 2010 at 8:19 pm
The record for a single team appears to be 5 in this game:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN197108110.shtml
Four teams, including the White Sox against Hawkins, had four R with no RBI, but in the games that were not shutouts the other team had at least one RBI.
Therefore I suspect the record for two teams, with both scoring, will be a total of 5 runs in a 3-2 game.
April 28th, 2010 at 9:13 pm
Several names from the Big Red Machine that dominated over the next several years can be found in the boxscore of that Houston-Cincinnati game. This includes three who were playing for the Astros at that time - Denis Menke, Joe Morgan, and starting pitcher Jack Billingham.
April 28th, 2010 at 9:21 pm
Some of the scores in the '20s from the games I listed above are pretty high. My guess is that there were RBI in some of those games, just no record of RBI.
Technically its off topic, but one of those games has a really interesting scoring line:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Indians 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 7 1 9 12 0
Athletics 0 0 0 0 0 1 8 0 1 10 14 0
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHA/PHA192208160.shtml
Its too bad there is no play by play available for that game.
April 28th, 2010 at 10:12 pm
None of the games where a team scored 3 runs with 0 RBI and won by a 3-2 or 3-1 score, qualify. So I guess the record will be a 2-1 game.