Negative Game Scores
Posted by Andy on June 8, 2010
Yesterday the question came up of whether negative Game Scores are possible for pitchers. The answer is a resounding "yes." See below for more.
Check out the Game Score calculation here. It's simple math: hits, earned runs, unearned runs, and walks all count against the score. Allow enough of them and boom your score goes negative.
Here are the lowest game scores of all time within the years we have in the box scores:
| Rk | Player | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | GSc | BF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hod Lisenbee | 1936-09-11 | PHA | CHW | L 2-17 | 8.0 | 26 | 17 | 14 | 4 | 1 | 2 | -35 | 51 |
| 2 | Howard Ehmke | 1923-09-28 | BOS | NYY | L 4-24 | 6.0 | 21 | 17 | 16 | 4 | 6 | 2 | -34 | 42 |
| 3 | Johnny Miljus | 1929-07-25 | CLE | PHA | L 3-21 | 3.0 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 3 | 0 | 3 | -26 | 25 |
| 4 | Flint Rhem | 1933-08-04 | PHI | NYG | L 1-18 | 8.0 | 21 | 16 | 15 | 3 | 1 | 0 | -24 | 47 |
| 5 | Carl Doyle | 1936-07-28 | PHA | CHW | L 6-19 | 4.2 | 16 | 15 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 0 | -23 | 39 |
| 6 | Hugh McQuillan | 1927-09-11 (2) | BSN | CIN | L 5-16 | 6.2 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 3 | 2 | 1 | -23 | 39 |
| 7 | Mike Oquist | 1998-08-03 | OAK | NYY | L 1-14 | 5.0 | 16 | 14 | 14 | 3 | 3 | 4 | -21 | 32 |
| 8 | Johnny Babich | 1935-06-23 (1) | BRO | STL | L 2-16 | 4.2 | 16 | 13 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 1 | -21 | 31 |
| 9 | Heinie Meine | 1930-06-23 | PIT | BRO | L 6-19 | 6.0 | 19 | 14 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 2 | -20 | 37 |
| 10 | Ted Lyons | 1924-07-21 | CHW | WSH | L 2-16 | 8.0 | 18 | 16 | 14 | 5 | 3 | 0 | -16 | 48 |
| 11 | Scott Sanders | 1998-04-14 | DET | TEX | L 2-11 | 4.0 | 16 | 11 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 0 | -15 | 29 |
| 12 | Bob Feller | 1938-08-26 (1) | CLE | NYY | L 9-15 | 7.0 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 9 | 7 | 2 | -15 | 44 |
| 13 | Slick Castleman | 1936-06-09 | NYG | CIN | L 4-15 | 8.0 | 18 | 15 | 15 | 3 | 2 | 1 | -15 | 45 |
| 14 | David Wells | 1992-08-20 | TOR | MIL | L 3-16 | 4.1 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 1 | -14 | 29 |
| 15 | Galen Cisco | 1962-07-27 (2) | BOS | WSA | L 1-14 | 5.1 | 16 | 13 | 11 | 4 | 2 | 2 | -14 | 36 |
| 16 | Jack Russell | 1929-06-19 | BOS | NYY | L 2-13 | 6.0 | 19 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -14 | 36 |
| 17 | Bill Travers | 1977-08-14 (2) | MIL | CLE | L 5-14 | 7.2 | 18 | 14 | 14 | 4 | 4 | 2 | -13 | 45 |
| 18 | Bill Sherdel | 1929-07-03 | STL | PIT | L 2-13 | 8.0 | 21 | 13 | 13 | 3 | 2 | 0 | -13 | 45 |
| 19 | Yovani Gallardo | 2007-08-08 | MIL | COL | L 4-19 | 2.2 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 2 | -12 | 23 |
| 20 | Jerry Augustine | 1982-05-11 | MIL | KCR | L 3-17 | 5.0 | 15 | 12 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 2 | -12 | 31 |
| 21 | Pat Caraway | 1931-07-26 (2) | CHW | NYY | L 5-22 | 2.0 | 7 | 13 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 0 | -12 | 21 |
| 22 | Eppa Rixey | 1927-05-26 | CIN | CHC | L 2-11 | 4.1 | 15 | 11 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 0 | -12 | 30 |
| 23 | Carl Mays | 1923-07-17 | NYY | CLE | L 0-13 | 8.0 | 20 | 13 | 13 | 4 | 2 | 1 | -12 | 35 |
As you can see, the majority of these games are from long ago, when pitchers were used quite differently from today. Back then, when it was your turn to pitch, you pitched. The bar for "ineffectiveness" was quite a bit higher than it is today, when most pitchers would get pulled long before they could rack up such terrible scores. Most of the recent entries happen in cases where a pitcher needs to "take one for the team", such as in the first game of a double-header when the manager doesn't want to go to his bullpen early.
Speaking of that, here are the lowest game scores from just the last 20 seasons:
| Rk | Player | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | Pit | Str | GSc | BF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mike Oquist | 1998-08-03 | OAK | NYY | L 1-14 | 5.0 | 16 | 14 | 14 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 111 | 74 | -21 | 32 |
| 2 | Scott Sanders | 1998-04-14 | DET | TEX | L 2-11 | 4.0 | 16 | 11 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 88 | 50 | -15 | 29 |
| 3 | David Wells | 1992-08-20 | TOR | MIL | L 3-16 | 4.1 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 97 | 55 | -14 | 29 |
| 4 | Yovani Gallardo | 2007-08-08 | MIL | COL | L 4-19 | 2.2 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 80 | 48 | -12 | 23 |
| 5 | Jason Jennings | 2007-07-29 | HOU | SDP | L 11-18 | 0.2 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 39 | 21 | -11 | 13 |
| 6 | Jon Garland | 2007-07-06 (1) | CHW | MIN | L 14-20 | 3.1 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 90 | 54 | -11 | 25 |
| 7 | Jason Marquis | 2006-06-21 | STL | CHW | L 5-13 | 5.0 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 91 | 59 | -11 | 30 |
| 8 | Zack Greinke | 2005-06-10 | KCR | ARI | L 11-12 | 4.1 | 15 | 11 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 94 | 55 | -11 | 29 |
| 9 | Bryan Rekar | 1996-04-28 | COL | MON | L 9-21 | 2.1 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 73 | 38 | -11 | 22 |
| 10 | Brian Bannister | 2008-08-17 | KCR | NYY | L 6-15 | 1.0 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 65 | 37 | -10 | 16 |
| 11 | Pat Rapp | 1997-04-22 | FLA | COL | L 4-13 | 2.2 | 13 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 75 | 43 | -10 | 21 |
| 12 | Bronson Arroyo | 2008-06-24 | CIN | TOR | L 1-14 | 1.0 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 52 | 33 | -9 | 15 |
| 13 | Luke Hudson | 2006-08-13 | KCR | CLE | L 0-13 | 0.1 | 8 | 11 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 47 | 26 | -9 | 13 |
| 14 | Jeff Fassero | 2004-08-08 | COL | CIN | L 7-14 | 3.0 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 73 | 43 | -9 | 23 |
| 15 | Shawn Chacon | 2003-06-07 (1) | COL | KCR | L 11-13 | 3.2 | 9 | 12 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 96 | 55 | -9 | 25 |
| 16 | Jimmy Anderson | 2001-08-03 | PIT | COL | L 7-12 | 2.1 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 66 | 40 | -9 | 21 |
| 17 | Scott Schoeneweis | 2001-05-23 | ANA | BAL | L 5-12 | 4.0 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 98 | 52 | -9 | 27 |
| 18 | Jamie Moyer | 2000-08-09 | SEA | CHW | L 3-19 | 3.2 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 101 | 55 | -9 | 26 |
| 19 | Jose Mercedes | 1998-05-04 | MIL | SDP | L 5-13 | 3.1 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 79 | 52 | -9 | 25 |
| 20 | Gio Gonzalez | 2009-07-20 | OAK | MIN | W 14-13 | 2.2 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 89 | 51 | -8 | 21 |
| 21 | Brandon Backe | 2008-08-06 | HOU | CHC | L 4-11 | 3.1 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 99 | 56 | -8 | 25 |
| 22 | Jimmy Anderson | 2003-06-26 | CIN | STL | L 7-11 | 5.0 | 15 | 11 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 107 | 62 | -8 | 31 |
| 23 | Tom Gordon | 1995-10-01 | KCR | CLE | L 7-17 | 1.0 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 63 | 27 | -8 | 16 |
| 24 | John Lackey | 2008-09-26 | LAA | TEX | L 1-12 | 2.2 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 73 | 47 | -7 | 21 |
| 25 | Jason Marquis | 2006-07-18 | STL | ATL | L 5-14 | 5.0 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 91 | 54 | -7 | 31 |
| 26 | Arnie Munoz | 2004-06-19 | CHW | MON | L 14-17 | 3.0 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 91 | 49 | -7 | 22 |
| 27 | Denny Neagle | 2002-07-02 | COL | SFG | L 5-18 | 2.0 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 58 | 31 | -7 | 19 |
| 28 | Roy Halladay | 1999-04-29 | TOR | ANA | L 1-17 | 2.1 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 68 | 35 | -7 | 20 |
Note lots of good names on this list, including many pitchers early in their careers who would go on to lots of success...(Greinke, Wells, Gallardo, Halladay, Gordon as a starter...)
Edwin Jackson has the lowest Game Score in 2010: a -5 in this game.
June 8th, 2010 at 6:58 am
It should be pointed out that Bill Travers -13 was the second game of a double-header. In the first, Jim Slaton had a GS of 9. That's the only double-header listed here in which the sum of the team's two starters GS produced a negative total. Hugh McQuillan and Charlie Robinson came close with their 23-23=0 performances. I recall Travers' game as one of the first old games that I looked up when Bill James first introduced game scores.
June 8th, 2010 at 7:33 am
Wow!!! Nice stuff. Even negative stats are fun to look at.
June 8th, 2010 at 9:19 am
It seems to me that the David Wells game was during a time when he was feuding with manager Cito Gaston. Wells complained that he should be in the starting rotation full-time and that Gaston shouldn't remove him from the game too quickly. Gaston left him in the game to take a double dose of punishment to sort of prove Gaston's point. I might have the details a bit wrong, but there was definitely a backstory to that outing.
June 8th, 2010 at 11:48 am
Allan Travers had a -52 (I think) in the one game he pitched for Detroit in 1912, when the regulars struck in support of Ty Cobb.
June 8th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
Allan Travers -52
Bill Travers -13
No wonder Peter and Paul never let Mary pitch.
June 8th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
In his 16 losses in 2006, Jason Marquis had an average game score of 29.7.
June 8th, 2010 at 2:24 pm
These negative stats remind me of a song (Less Than Zero) I watched on the PBS series "Square One TV". It was about an Olympic athlete named Stanley O'Toole, who did so poor in games like diving, dancing, hammer throw, etc., the judges gave him scores of -24, -10, -2, -55, -etc. It goes to prove that studying negative number is at times a positive experience. Same goes for these game scores from pitchers such as Howard Ehmke, Mike Oquist, Scott Sanders, etc. Perhaps those pitchers felt like O'Toole on the days they were batting practice to the hitters. You won't see these negative scores from Ubaldo Jimenez, C.C. Sabathia, Tim Lincecum, or other Cy Young and All-Star caliber pitchers. You also (hopefully) won't see a negative performance from Stephen Strasburg tonight against PIT. Nevertheless, any pitcher can have an off day, but, fortunately, only a few have horrible outings their game scores are similar to Stanley O'Toole's Olympic results in "Less Than Zero."
June 8th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
PI finds 18 pitchers with two starts with negative game scores, including Dazzy Vance and Waite Hoyt. There are likely more in the non-Retrosheet era, probably even someone with three.
It seems that a 0 game score really is a cut-off for extreme suckitude. When searching for most games under a GS of 5, all of a sudden there are many more qualifying games. Ted Lyons had 6 of them, but only one was negative.
In a way, the negative game scores might not be as bad as the others. Lyons went 8 IP, 16 runs in his -16 start. In his five starts with a score from 1 to 5, he pitched fewer than 5 IP in each.
Lyons is the only HOF pitcher who walked more batters than he struck out. Never knew that.
June 8th, 2010 at 5:50 pm
Comments on the list for the last 20 seasons:
Two Blue Jays who later pitched perfect games.
And two current members of the Phillies starting rotation.
It's interesting that the Phillies themselves don't show up as either the pitcher's own team (I guess Manuel, Bowa, Francona, Fregosi, and Leyva have/had quick hooks) or the opponent (despite some years of heavy offense).
June 8th, 2010 at 6:29 pm
Three HoFers in the 1st table, Ted Lyons, Bob Feller, and Eppa Rixey.
June 9th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
Gio Gonzales pulled off the win!
Actually, I guess his team won...
June 10th, 2010 at 12:19 pm
I remember the Mike Oquist game. Art Howe publicly apologized to him for keeping him out there when he clearly had no stuff that day... the bullpen had been wrecked closing out a couple close games and they had nobody available for more than an inning. Therefore, Oquist had to go until his regular numbers were reached.
LaRussa would have just brought in a backup infielder...