Most Pitchers in a 9 Inning Shutout
Posted by Raphy on July 11, 2010
The Marlins used 6 pitchers to shutout the Diamondbacks today. This ties the current PI era record for 9 inning shutouts in a non-September game. The only team (1920-1939,1952-2010) to use more pitchers to throw a 9 inning shutout was the Rangers in September of 2004. Here are the previous teams that have used at least 6 pitchers in a nine-inning shutout.
| Rk | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | WP | Pit | Str | BF | AB | 2B | 3B | IBB | HBP | # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2004-09-18 | TEX | ANA | W 2-0 | 9.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 165 | 101 | 38 | 33 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 2 | 2008-05-31 | TBR | CHW | W 2-0 | 9.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 150 | 95 | 35 | 30 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 3 | 2007-07-17 | FLA | STL | W 4-0 | 9.0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 161 | 108 | 37 | 33 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| 4 | 2006-08-14 | SFG | SDP | W 1-0 | 9.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 124 | 71 | 36 | 32 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 5 | 2006-05-28 | CLE | DET | W 9-0 | 9.0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 139 | 91 | 38 | 35 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 6 | 2003-06-11 | HOU | NYY | W 8-0 | 9.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 151 | 93 | 33 | 29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 7 | 2003-05-18 | COL | MON | W 4-0 | 9.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 139 | 81 | 38 | 33 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 8 | 2002-09-29 | SFG | HOU | W 7-0 | 9.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 97 | 66 | 32 | 29 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 9 | 2002-09-07 | ATL | MON | W 4-0 | 9.0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 137 | 86 | 38 | 31 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 10 | 2002-08-06 | HOU | FLA | W 2-0 | 9.0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 152 | 93 | 38 | 34 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 11 | 2002-06-04 | FLA | PHI | W 5-0 | 9.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 168 | 95 | 38 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 12 | 2002-06-03 | CHW | KCR | W 4-0 | 9.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 131 | 76 | 36 | 32 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 13 | 1998-09-23 | MON | NYM | W 3-0 | 9.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 146 | 86 | 35 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 14 | 1996-04-19 | STL | PHI | W 1-0 | 9.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 126 | 76 | 36 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 15 | 1995-09-23 (1) | BOS | TOR | W 5-0 | 9.0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 147 | 89 | 36 | 32 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 16 | 1994-05-17 | STL | PIT | W 2-0 | 9.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 118 | 66 | 31 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 17 | 1994-05-15 | FLA | CHC | W 3-0 | 9.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 130 | 82 | 34 | 31 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 18 | 1965-10-03 | LAD | MLN | W 3-0 | 9.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 29 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
July 11th, 2010 at 9:49 pm
#6 Houston's no-hitter after a first-inning injury was the first to come to my mind in regards to this.
July 11th, 2010 at 10:14 pm
The Astros-Yankees 6/11/03 game was a no-hitter. Oswalt hurt his hamstring or groin(?) and only pitched an inning. First time the Yanks had been no-hit in decades.
The closing trio the Stros had that season -- Lidge, Dotel, and Wagner -- was pretty remarkable. That was Lidge's first full season; Wagner left as a FA in the off-season and Dotel wss traded away the next year. Lidge's ERA was "only" 3.60 but he had the great K-rate and (I assume) the devastating fastball/slider combo. Must have been a fun bunch to watch. Each pitched at least 85 IP; just 7 seasons later that seems remarkable. How many teams have had three relievers pitch that much. No easy way to be sure since the PI doesn't break down SP/RP splits, but if we just search for guys who relieved every game (as this trio did), we find that the '03 Astros were indeed the last team to do that. 22 other teams matched it from 1962-1999. The 1982 Red Sox had 4 full-time relievers with at least 85 IP. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a few other teams who made it but the relievers in question also had a start or three.
The Astros trio also each struck out at least 97 batters. Not as aesthetically pleasing as if it were 100, but nearly as dominant. No other trio of full-time relievers has matched that. A few teams had two.
Dotel and Lidge finished 1-2 in holds (Lidge tied with some others), while Wagner was 3rd in saves. They combined for 110 saves+holds and 10 blown saves. Not sure of any easy way to compare that to other trios, but it seems pretty good. The Astros did have the third fewest blown saves in the league that season.
The Houston trio each had at least 2.2 WPA, one of nine full-time reliever trios to do that. And they each had at least 1.4 WPA/LI, one of six trios to do that (and the most recent, along with '03 Dodgers).
July 11th, 2010 at 10:15 pm
Spent so long on that Fantusta beat me to the punch...
July 11th, 2010 at 11:09 pm
Wagner was traded to Philadelphia after the season.
July 11th, 2010 at 11:30 pm
Oops, thanks. I had forgotten and didn't bother to check. Bad trade for Houston. Made sense to move Wagner if you could get value for him, considering the great arms ready to replace him, but they didn't get value.
July 12th, 2010 at 10:18 am
The '65 game sticks out on this list, of course. Last game of the season and the Dodgers played the late season call-ups to rest regulars for the WS. Interesting that something happened only once in the 60+ years covered by PI (and then it was a fluke - and I think we can be pretty certain that it was the only occurrence in the non PI years) - and then 17 times in the last 17 seasons.
July 12th, 2010 at 11:54 am
Astros no-hitter was the first game that came to mind for me too.
I find it interesting that the Rangers (#1 on the list) were going through pitchers so fast during the middle of the game that even though the Starter went 4 innings (not bad for a list like this), the Closer still had to pitch 2.
July 12th, 2010 at 12:08 pm
Dotel had four strikeouts in the eighth inning of the no-hitter.
July 12th, 2010 at 1:13 pm
Not a record for shutouts, but the final game of 1975 for the Athletics sticks in my mind when records like this are discussed. That day, Vida Blue started against the Angels, followed by Glenn Abbott, Paul Lindblad and Rollie Fingers for a four-pitcher no-hitter. It was a weird, but for Charlie O. {the two-legged version}, about par for the course.