Blackjack: 21 straight outs, both teams combined
Three consecutive triples? Five consecutive infield singles?
It has been an interesting few days for consecutive events in baseball. That got me looking for some other consecutive events in Retrosheet’s play-by-play data and one really stands out, at least to me.
On July 11, 1953, the Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Browns had 21 consecutive OUTS in a game. Even more interesting, they had 34 plays that went:
Single, hit by pitch, two outs, a strikeout, six outs, a walk, 21 outs, then a double. Or, 32 non-base hits between hits. The Browns were up 5-0 before and made the score 7-0 right after the extend hitlessness. Wonder why you never here about this game when talking about great pitching duels? Oh wait. A lack of strikeouts.
From Baseball Reference:
| INN | OUTS | ROB | R/O | @BAT | Batter | Pitcher | Play Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| t2 | 2 | — | N/A | SLB | D. Kokos | S. Gromek | Single to CF |
| t2 | 2 | 1– | N/A | SLB | V. Wertz | S. Gromek | Hit By Pitch; Kokos to 2B |
| t2 | 2 | -12 | O | SLB | C. Courtney | S. Gromek | Groundout: P-1B |
| b2 | 0 | — | O | DET | B. Souchock | B. Cain | Flyball: SS |
| b2 | 1 | — | O | DET | J. Delsing | B. Cain | Strikeout |
| b2 | 2 | — | O | DET | M. Batts | B. Cain | Flyball: 2B |
| t3 | 0 | — | O | SLB | D. Kryhoski | S. Gromek | Foul Flyball: C |
| t3 | 1 | — | O | SLB | J. Dyck | S. Gromek | Foul Flyball: C |
| t3 | 2 | — | O | SLB | B. Hunter | S. Gromek | Flyball: SS |
| b3 | 0 | — | O | DET | D. Lund | B. Cain | Groundout: 1B unassisted |
| b3 | 1 | — | O | DET | S. Gromek | B. Cain | Groundout: 3B-1B |
| b3 | 2 | — | N/A | DET | H. Kuenn | B. Cain | Walk |
| b3 | 2 | 1– | O | DET | J. Priddy | B. Cain | Flyball: RF |
| t4 | 0 | — | O | SLB | B. Cain | S. Gromek | Flyball: 3B |
| t4 | 1 | — | O | SLB | J. Groth | S. Gromek | Flyball: RF |
| t4 | 2 | — | O | SLB | B. Young | S. Gromek | Flyball: RF |
| b4 | 0 | — | O | DET | R. Boone | B. Cain | Foul Flyball: 1B |
| b4 | 1 | — | O | DET | W. Dropo | B. Cain | Flyball: CF |
| b4 | 2 | — | O | DET | B. Souchock | B. Cain | Flyball: LF |
| t5 | 0 | — | O | SLB | D. Kokos | S. Gromek | Flyball: 1B |
| t5 | 1 | — | O | SLB | V. Wertz | S. Gromek | Flyball: CF |
| t5 | 2 | — | O | SLB | C. Courtney | S. Gromek | Groundout: SS-1B |
| b5 | 0 | — | O | DET | J. Delsing | B. Cain | Flyball: RF |
| b5 | 1 | — | O | DET | M. Batts | B. Cain | Groundout: SS-1B |
| b5 | 2 | — | O | DET | D. Lund | B. Cain | Flyball: CF |
| t6 | 0 | — | O | SLB | D. Kryhoski | S. Gromek | Groundout: 2B-1B |
| t6 | 1 | — | O | SLB | J. Dyck | S. Gromek | Groundout: 3B-1B |
| t6 | 2 | — | O | SLB | B. Hunter | S. Gromek | Flyball: RF |
| b6 | 0 | — | O | DET | B. Nieman | B. Cain | Flyball: RF |
| b6 | 1 | — | O | DET | H. Kuenn | B. Cain | Flyball: CF |
| b6 | 2 | — | O | DET | J. Priddy | B. Cain | Groundout: 3B-1B |
| t7 | 0 | — | O | SLB | B. Cain | B. Miller | Groundout: SS-1B |
| t7 | 1 | — | O | SLB | J. Groth | B. Miller | Groundout: P-1B |
| t7 | 2 | — | N/A | SLB | B. Young | B. Miller | Double to LF |
OK, jus tpulling perfect games quickly:
– Kenny Rogers’ 1994 perfect game featured 19 straight outs from the 3rd to the 6th, then a single, then 19 straight non-hits to end the game (although 2 of those were walks)
– Dennis Martinez’s perfect game in 1991 featured 30 straight outs to start the game (both he and Mike Morgan were perfect through 5)
– Tom Browning’s in 1988 featured 36 straight non-hits to start the game including 26 straight outs from the 2nd to the 6th
– Sandy Koufax 1965 – 27 straight outs to start the game, then a walk, then another 14 straight outs for 42 straight non-hits to start the game (but a run in there on an error), then a double, then 10 straight outs to finish. Bob Hendley pitched 8 giving up only 1 hit & 1 walk
I’ll end there
Has there ever been a 27 batter one hitter. I.e, a game in which there was a base runner who got caught trying to stretch a single into a double (or 2x into a 3x) and that was the only batter not retired by the pitcher? Seems to me that would be even rarer than a perfect game.
On June 17, 2003, the Mets beat the Marlins 5-0 on a one-hitter behind Jae Seo and two relievers. The only baserunner singled and was later caught stealing.
The interesting thing is that this was the third straight one-hitter involving the Mets. Steve Trachsel beat the Angels 8-0 on June 15, and then on June 16 Dontrelle Willis shut them down 1-0 in only his eighth major league game.
Thanks guys. For some reason I thought it would be much rarer than even a perfect game.
I feel like such a nerd for finding this article interesting. But I still do … (even if it’s not the rarest ever of events). Good work.
Ahhhh, yes, I missed the “ball in play out” part of the article.
My bad
Well, actually I just re-read the article and nowhere does it really say anything explicitly about the 21 consecutive outs being on balls in play.
FWIW
rbj –
per b-ref, there have been 49 games since 1919 where the pitcher gave up at least one hit and faced the minimum 27 batters. John Candeleria in 1982 had the msot hits allowed in such a game with 4, however Bob MIlacki in 1989 gave up 5 baserunners (hits & walks) while facing the minimum.
At the SABR convention in 2006, the Mariners lost a game 2-0 to Josh Fogg. He gave up 2 hits, 1 BB, each retired on a double play. So, instead of 27 ABs, Seattle only had 26.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SEA/SEA200606300.shtml
And to Anon’s comments:
The bigger deal was that there were 21 straight ball in play ours. The perfect games you mentioned had several strike outs intermixed with the outs. In the case of the game I mentioned there was only one STRIKEOUT mixed in with the non-outs.
Think of it … 21 outs (3.5 half innings of balls being put into play and converted to outs).