Pitchers as Efficiency Experts

Doing more with less is always desirable. If you’re a pitcher, saving wear and tear on your arm can extend your career, so you make more money and get a better pension. Keeping the pitch count down is in a pitcher’s best interest, but the number of pitches thrown during a game continues to increase in the long run (from 136 in 1988, according to Baseball-Reference, to about 145 this past season, FanGraphs stats show).

Theoretically, one could pitch a complete game with just 27 pitches, but no one has ever come close to that. In a given inning, however, it is always possible for a pitcher who begins and completes that inning to get by with three pitches. This is the ultimate in minimizing stress on the old soupbone, but it is only rarely realized.

In the 115-year history of the American League, three-pitch innings occurred only 76 times. The first to do so was Cleveland’s Addie Joss on Aug. 22, 1903 in the second inning of an 11-3 victory over the A’s at League Park. The most recent was Baltimore’s Tommy Hunter, who turned the trick coming on in the ninth inning in a 12-7 loss to Tampa Bay on June 29, 2014 at Camden Yards.

The National League has been around longer, so it has more such incidents, 97 to be specific. The first was Duke Esper of the Washington Senators (then an NL franchise), who did so in the second inning of a June 5, 1894 contest, a 9-6 loss to the Cleveland Spiders at Boundary Park in D.C. He was a most unlikely achiever, as he went 5-10 with a 7.45 ERA for the Senators that year. The most recent NL pitcher to make it through an inning on three pitches was the Cubs’ Edwin Jackson, who achieved the feat at Wrigley Field in an 8-4 victory over the Reds on April 19, 2014.

Any pitcher, no matter how mediocre, has the chance to pull off a three-pitch inning whenever he takes the mound at the start of an inning. The longer a pitcher’s career, the more chances he has to achieve multiple three-pitch innings. The National League champ, Mike DeJean, did it three times (June 2, 1999, and June 22, 2000 for the Rockies; and April 19, 2003 for the Brewers) in 10 seasons. The major league champ is Walter Johnson, who did it four times for the Senators (June 27, 1911; May 26, 1913; August 29, 1915; and June 1, 1917) in a seven-year span.

Notably, there are a couple of instances of American League pitchers combining on a three-pitch inning: the Orioles’ Mike Mussina (one pitch) and B.J. Ryan (two pitches) in the seventh inning of a Sept. 30, 2000 victory (9-1) over the Yankees at Camden Yards, and Martin Perez (one pitch) and Yoshinori Tateyama (two pitches) on Sept. 9, 2012 against the Rays in Arlington. Actually, the credit belongs to Tateyama. Perez gave up a base hit to Carlos Pena on the first pitch of the eighth inning and then was removed from the game in favor of Tateyama. Jose Molina grounded into a double play on Tateyama’s first pitch, and B.J. Upton grounded out on the next pitch. So three pitches, three outs for the inning, but two pitches, three outs for Tateyama.

It is theoretically possible, albeit unlikely, to improve on Tateyama’s productivity. Imagine a relief pitcher entering a game with two runners, both of whom reached base on one pitch each. Then the new pitcher throws one pitch and gets a triple play. That hasn’t happened yet, but it’ll be headline news if it ever does.

Striking out the side requires a bit more effort, at least nine pitches per inning. A pitcher who throws a nine-strike, three-out inning is said to have achieved an Immaculate Inning. This is an even rarer feat than a three-pitch inning, particularly in the American League where it has happened only 29 times. By contrast, it has happened in the National League 51 times. The feat is rare, not just because it involves nine straight strikes, but also three batters failing to put a ball in play, and failing to foul off a pitch with two strikes.

The first National Leaguer to throw an Immaculate Inning was John Clarkson of the Boston Beaneaters who did so in the third inning of a 4-2 victory over the Phillies at the South End Grounds in Boston on June 4, 1889. The most recent was the Giants’ Santiago Casilla who did so on May 17, 2015 in the ninth inning of a 9-8 victory over the Reds at Great American Ballpark.

The first American Leaguer to achieve an Immaculate Inning was the A’s Rube Waddell, who did so in the third inning on July 1, 1902 in a 2-0 victory over the Orioles at Columbia Park in Philadelphia. The last American League pitcher to do so was the Yankees’ Brandon McCarthy in the seventh inning of a 3-2 victory at Tampa Bay on Sept. 17, 2014.

The curious thing about the list of 80 pitchers who have accomplished this feat is that only four have done it twice. This is much like the occurrence of a no-hitter, which can be thrown by any mediocre pitcher on any given day (Bobo Holloman is the poster boy for this feat; he threw a no-hitter in his first start for the Browns in 1953 and finished his career at 3-7), but when you look at the list of pitchers who have thrown more than one no-hitter, the list is comprised of “name” pitchers.

The same is true of pitchers who have more than one Immaculate Inning. The four pitchers who have achieved two immaculate innings are not only “name” pitchers, they are all in the Hall of Fame.

The first to do so was the A’s Lefty Grove, who did it twice in 1928. The first time, he dispatched Eddie Morgan, Luther Harvel and Chick Autry on Aug. 23, 1928 at Shibe Park in a 3-1 victory over the Indians; the second time was on Sept. 27, 1928 in a 5-3 victory over the White Sox at Comiskey Park. Moe Berg, Tommy Thomas and Johnny Mostil were the victims.

Another two-timer was Randy Johnson, who first did it during his two-month tenure with the Astros in 1998. In the sixth inning of a 4-2 victory over the Braves at Turner Field on Sept. 2, 1998, Johnson disposed of Javy Lopez, Andruw Jones and Greg Colbrunn on nine pitches.

Johnson did it for the second time on Aug. 23, 2001 with the Diamondbacks. This time it was Tony McKnight, Gary Matthews Jr. and Jack Wilson in the sixth inning, but that was something of a consolation prize as Johnson lasted onlt one more inning, and the Pirates prevailed 5-1.

Notably, Nolan Ryan is the only pitcher with an Immaculate Inning in each league. He is also the youngest. The first time was his rookie year of 1968 with the Mets when he was only 21. He did so in the third inning of a game against the Dodgers, victimizing Claude Osteen, Wes Parker and Zoilo Versalles. Unfortunately, Ryan was not quite sharp enough to garner the victory; as the Dodgers prevailed 3-2 at Shea Stadium.

Ryan’s second immaculate inning occurred during his first season with the Angels in 1972. This time around he was victorious as he pitched a one-hit shutout (3-0) against the Red Sox, mowing down Carlton Fisk, Bob Burda and Juan Beniquez in the second inning.

The real overachiever, not surprisingly, is Sandy Koufax, the only pitcher to do it three times – in fact, in three consecutive seasons, and all three times at Dodger Stadium.

On June 30, 1962 he did it in the first inning to the Mets (Richie Ashburn, Rod Kanehl and Felix Mantilla). There were no more Immaculate Innings that evening, but the rest of the game was not too shabby, as the Dodgers won 5-0, and Koufax pitched the first of his four no-hitters. The 29,797 fans on hand probably didn’t realize that Koufax’s Immaculate Inning would prove to be a rarer achievement than his no-hitter.

On April 19, 1963, Koufax did it in the fifth inning to the Colt .45s (ringing up Bob Aspromonte, Jim Campbell and Turk Farrell). This time around he gave up two hits but still managed a shutout (final score 2-0).

And on April 18, 1964, Koufax did it in the third inning to the Reds (Leo Cardenas, Johnny Edwards and Jim Maloney). This time, however, the result was a 3-0 loss to the Reds. Curiously, Reds starter Maloney was removed from the game after six innings, even though he had given up no hits. Since he was not removed for a pinch-hitter, one can only assume he was injured. He was replaced by John Tsitouris, who gave up just one hit and no runs in the final three innings. Final score: Reds 3, Phillies 0. Maloney, by the way, got the first of his two no-hitters the following season when he no-hit the Cubs (1-0) at Wrigley Field on Aug. 19, 1965.

Theoretically, a game composed of nine Immaculate Innings, albeit unlikely, would get a pitcher a complete game with just 81 pitches. Any pitching coach would be tickled pink with that number. But it’s a long way from the lowest pitch count on record. That would be 58, thrown by Charles “Red” Barrett of the Boston Braves in a 2-0 shutout of the Reds on Aug. 10, 1944 at Crosley Field. That’s 6.44 pitches per inning. Barrett walked none, struck out none, and gave up just two harmless singles, so a low pitch count was assured… but 58?

Even more amazing, the game lasted a mere one hour and 15 minutes. That too is a record for the shortest nine-inning night game. (If you’re wondering, that’s a long way from the day game record: Giants 6, Phillies 1, accomplished in 51 minutes on Sept. 28, 1919 at the Polo Grounds.) I find that more astounding than the pitch count, since I recently (Sept. 30, 2015) sat through a game at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia that fell one minute short of four hours – more than three times as long as Barrett’s gem – and the Phillies didn’t even bat in the bottom of the ninth.

Granted, Barrett’s achievement took place during World War II when the caliber of play was at its ebb. Barrett was hardly a likely choice for such an outstanding achievement. He had an 11-year career but he was a .500 pitcher (69-69).

After going 24-12 for the Reds’ Class C minor league team (the Muskogee Reds of the Western Association) in 1937, he was brought up for one game that season. Through 1940, he bounced back and forth between the Reds and the minors, accruing a total of just 12 major league appearances from 1937-1940. He spent the entire 1941 and 1942 seasons in the minors, winning 20 games each year (for Birmingham of the Single-A Southern Association and the Syracuse Chiefs of the Double-A International League). The advent of the war and the depletion of major league rosters brought him back to the big leagues. He started 31 games for the Braves in 1943, (12-18, 3.18) and 30 (9-16, 4.06) in 1944.

The next season, 1945, was his career year. He started the season at 2-3 with the Braves, who traded him to the Cardinals, where he went 21-9. He led the NL in victories (23), complete games (24) and inning pitched (284.2). In 1946 the first-rank players returned from the military and Barrett assumed journeyman status, hanging around till 1949, going 22-23 for the rest of his big league career. He returned to the minors in 1950 and remained there till 1953, when he retired at age 38.

The upshot of all of the above is the importance of control. It reminds me of Art Fowler’s oft-quoted advice to a young pitcher: “Throw strikes, son. Babe Ruth is dead.” That is the clean version. Another version is “Babe Ruth is dead. Throw the f—— ball over the plate before Billy [Martin] gets mad.” However expressed, the advice is sound.

The three-pitch inning involves all strikes. The immaculate inning involves all strikes. I don’t know the breakdown of balls and strikes in Red Barrett’s 58-pitch record-breaker, but we know he didn’t walk anybody, and I think it’s safe to assume that he ran few, if any, deep counts.

As with real estate, the key to pitching is location, location, location. Throw strikes and it keeps your fielders on their toes, it keeps you ahead in the count, and your arm will suffer less wear and tear.

And we fans will suffer less from sitting through inflated game times.