15 Responses to “Scherzer’s 14 Strikeouts”

1. Zachary Says:
   May 30th, 2010 at 10:21 pm

   I remember seeing Scherzer pitch for the Tuscon Sidewinders a couple years ago. He was tipping his pitches ... I guess he figured it out!

2. You can’t spell Scherzer without K Says:
   May 30th, 2010 at 10:42 pm

   [...] Baseball-Reference Blog » Blog Archive » Scherzer’s 14 Strikeouts [...]

3. Johnny Twisto Says:
   May 30th, 2010 at 11:00 pm

   How odd that most of those games in the first list were not that well-pitched, at least in terms of runs given up. But I guess most of those guys would have stayed in the game longer if they had been more effective.

   I remember that Joba game. An odd one; got hit early, then started mowing them down, then had to be pulled for working too hard. I think he made a great diving catch on a pop-up bunt.

4. Martin Manley Says:
   May 30th, 2010 at 11:00 pm

   I'm not sure if just didn't come through on the Index Tool Used, but if you also set one of the paremeters to IP <=5.7, it shows the exact list.

5. Raphy Says:
   May 30th, 2010 at 11:05 pm

   Martin - The "View Play Index Tool Used" doesn't show the search that was done, only the PI tools used. You are correct - That is the way to create the list. (I think I used 5.9, but its the same thing in this case.)

6. Raphy Says:
   May 30th, 2010 at 11:14 pm

   Johnny - You have the wrong game. Joba had no putouts in that game. The only time in his career that Joba caught a bunt was in the 5th inning of this game:
   http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE200906010.shtml

7. 5/30: Max Scherzer Is Very Much Alive And Well Thank You « Fire Gerald Laird Says:
   May 30th, 2010 at 11:22 pm

   [...] complete game shutout. In fact, according to the good folks at Baseball Reference, Scherzer is the only pitcher in the modern era to notch 14 Ks while pitching less than 6 innings. It’s the highest total of the 2010 season [...]

8. Raphy Says:
   May 31st, 2010 at 5:25 am

   Continuing from #6- Johnny, Here is the play: http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=4820689

9. statboy Says:
   May 31st, 2010 at 10:30 am

   Elias says Scherzer is the first pitcher in major-league history (not just PI history) to collect as many as 14 strikeouts in a game while pitching fewer than six innings.

10. Johnny Twisto Says:
    May 31st, 2010 at 10:55 am

    Yup, that's the one Raphy. I guess I'm like one of those old ballplayers who tells invented stories about past glories, except in this case I've forgotten something which only happened a year ago. Oy...

11. Anon Says:
    May 31st, 2010 at 1:06 pm

    A note on the 7-18-2001 Randy Johnson game in this list - that game started the day before with Curt Schilling facing the Padres. In the 2nd (or maybe 3rd) inning, a huge transformer over the field exploded causing the umps to postpone the game to the next day to be played before the regularly scheduled game. Since Schilling had pitched, Bob Brenly decided to just have Johnson (who was scheduled to go in the regularly scheduled game) take over for Schilling who obviously could not pitch after pitching the day before.

    IIRC, the 16 Ks is the record for the most in relief.

12. Steve H Says:
    May 31st, 2010 at 5:20 pm

    http://mystiqueandaura.com/2010/05/31/halladay-was-great-scherzer-was-rare/

13. Gerry Says:
    May 31st, 2010 at 6:58 pm

    16 is indeed the record for K in relief, at least in the Play-Index era. In second place, Denny McLain, 14 in 6-and-two-thirds, for Detroit, against Boston, 15 June 1965. Then Billy O'Dell, 13 in 9 innings of relief, in the 1st game of a 4th of July doubleheader in 1961; his Giants beat the Cubs 19-3 in that game. There are three pitchers with 12 K in relief; Jumbo Brown, 3 June 1933; Diego Segui, 22 September 1974, and Mark Guthrie, 25 May 1995. Guthrie did it in 6 IP.

14. Brad T. Says:
    May 31st, 2010 at 8:41 pm

    I was at the game and wrote a post about it at baseballindepth.com. It was agonizing to watch because it was obvious that Leyland wanted him to at least finish 6 innings, but his pitch count got too high and he kept allowing runners on even with 14 K. At he left, the Tigers only managed 3 more over the next 3 innings, which is too bad because they could have approached the record for 9 innings.

15. Tuesday Links – Lakers and Celtics in NBA Finals, Max Scherzer’s Historic Start, Megan Fox Being Megan Fox, & Jay Feely Supports Arizona Immigration Law | detroit.rssible.com Says:
    June 1st, 2010 at 8:51 am

    [...] Scherzer was good in his first MLB start since being sent down to the minors, but how good was he? Baseball Reference shows us that Scherzer was “never been done before” good. While I don’t think we [...]