What’s rarer than a perfect game in baseball? A no-pitcher. Beimel one-pitches the Fish for a Win.
I was greeted at the office today with a trivia question… what is the fewest number of pitches needed to win a MLB game?
The trap I fell into was thinking of starting pitchers and began thinking of 15, one pitch per batter for 5 innings in a rained-out game. Then someone at my office said 1, a reliever comes in in a tie game with 2 outs in the 9th inning, gets the batter out, and the home team wins in a walk-off in the bottom of the 9th.
At the office today we were discussing Los Angeles Dodger Joe Beimel‘s one-pitch win over the Florida Marlins. Scott Proctor relieves Hideki Kuroda and retires the first two batters with a ground out and a strikeout. Proctor is relieved by Joe Beimel who gets a pop-out for the 3rd out and left the game. In the top of the 9th, the Dodgers score 2 runs and Takashi Saito gets the save, retiring all three batters including two K’s.
In theory, a reliever could come in to pitch in a tie game in the 9th with 2 outs and a runner on base, pick off the runner before throwing a pitch and then the home team scores a run in the bottom of the 9th. That would be a win with no pitches.
Has it ever happened?
I am trying to dig up stats on 1-pitch and theoretical 0-pitch wins. Please comment.
Yesterday (Thursday, May 1) marked a rare day in Major League Baseball.
Two pitchers earned a win by throwing just one pitch in yesterday’s action.
With two outs in the bottom of the 8th inning with Milwaukee down 3-1, the Brewers’ Brian Shouse was brought in to face pinch-hitter Daryle Ward with Kosuke Fukudome on first base. Shouse tossed over to first, threw a pitch taken for a strike, then tossed over to first again catching Fukudome attempting to steal, pitcher to first to shortstop. Milwaukee scored three runs in the top of the 9th to earn Shouse the victory.
In a 3-3 game, the Dodgers’ Joe Beimel was brought in to face the Marlins’ Jeremy Hermida with two outs in the bottom of the 8th. Hermida hit the first pitch popping out to the shortstop to end the inning. The Dodgers scored two runs in the top of the 9th to earn Beimel the win.
May 1 also marks the 5-year anniversary of a zero-pitch victory.
In the 7th inning of Game 1 of a doubleheader against Detroit, the Orioles were down 2-1 when Baltimore’s B.J. Ryan was brought in to face Bobby Higginson with Omar Infante on first base with two outs. Ryan threw to first baseman Jeff Conine who threw to Deivi Cruz to catch Infante attempting to steal. The Orioles scored three in the 8th and one more in the 9th to earn Ryan the victory.
Martin Radosevic
just saw this! Preacher Roe, who I believe played for the Browns, won a game and never made a pitch. He came in top of the ninth game tied runner on third two out. The runner tried to steal home, Preacher threw him out. Bottom of the inning Brown’s score, game over. got to be old to know about this one.
thanks
Joe