| Re: Strange Baseball Feats & Records From ESPN:
The bad news for Phillies pitcher Scott Mathieson last Saturday is that he only got to throw six pitches against the Braves before exiting with an elbow issue. The good news is, that quick departure allowed him to compile a box-score line that wouldn't even seem to be possible -- but still happened in real life: 0 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
In other words, this guy faced one hitter and struck him out -- but still gave up an earned run and, according to the box-score gods, recorded more strikeouts (one) than outs (zero). So feel free to say this all together now: Huh?
OK, this was obviously all made possible by a wild pitch on strike three (to Pete Orr). Which was followed by a two-run homer served up by the reliever who replaced him, Eude Brito.
But it's still really hard to do. Loyal reader Michael Mavrogiannis combed through Retrosheet's box-score files and determined that, over the last 50 seasons, only one other starting pitcher had a pitching line with more whiffs than outs. That was Wilbur Wood, who spun off an 0-4-6-5-0-1 line against the Yankees on July 20, 1973. (The K came on a strikeout-passed ball to the legendary Horace Clarke.) |