Trivia: Link these 3 pitchers

Since 1919, what single-game result was achieved only by Kevin Appier, Bob Sebra and Ken Johnson?

(I can never keep you folks down for long. Congratulations to CursedClevelander. For the answer, click “Read the rest of this entry.”)

Answer: Appier, Sebra and Johnson are the only pitchers who lost a 9-inning game with a Game Score of 90 or better.

Rk	Player	Date	Tm	Opp	Rslt	App,Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	Pit	Str	GSc
1	Kevin Appier	1993-07-27	KCR	TEX	L 0-1	CG 9 ,L	9.0	1	1	1	1	11	1	106	76	91
2	Bob Sebra	1987-07-01	MON	CHC	L 0-1	CG 9 ,L	9.0	3	1	1	1	14	1			90
3	Ken Johnson	1964-04-23	HOU	CIN	L 0-1	CG 9 ,L	9.0	0	1	0	2	9	0			92

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/14/2012.

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Voomo Zanzibar

12 years ago

Something to do with a complete game loss.
Sebra had one with three hits and fourteen strikeouts…

wlcmlc

12 years ago

Maybe losing 1-0, with a GS of 90+? Matches Sebra’s game in #1.

Author

John Autin

12 years ago

I’ll parse the first two comments into 4 parts:
— Complete game
— Loss
— Losing 1-0
— Game Score of 90+

Two of those are essential requirements of the P-I search that returns our 3 pitchers. Two are irrelevant. And there is one additional requirement of the search, without which you’ll get 46 games instead of 3.

Max

12 years ago

no walks.

Author

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Max

Nope. In fact, they all walked at least 1.

CursedClevelander

12 years ago

Okay, I think I have it: Guys with a non-shutout CG Loss of exactly 9 IP and a Game Score over 90.

CursedClevelander

12 years ago

Reply to CursedClevelander

D’oh. Obviously, the “non-shutout” part is redundant, since it would be pretty hard to have both a loss and a shutout.

CursedClevelander

12 years ago

Reply to CursedClevelander

I hate replying to my own post twice, but taking what JA said above, the “CG” part is also technically irrelevant. They’re the only three guys to fulfill these three requirements: exactly 9 IP , Loss, Game Score of 90+.

Author

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to CursedClevelander

CC, you’ve captured the spirit of the search, if not the exact wording. I’m calling it a winner. Congratulations to Cursed Clevelander! And thanks to the rest of you for playing.

The three search criteria were:
— Game Score >= 90
— Loss
— Games of 9 innings or less

Technically, a pitcher could have met those criteria without CC’s “exactly 9 IP” — but in fact, all 3 of our guys did pitch exactly 9 IP.

CursedClevelander

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

Yeah, I think the similarity of the games was confusing. All three games were 1-0 CG Losses of exactly 9 IP, but many of those facts ended up being superfluous criteria. Plus, the recent emphasis on CG’s led a lot of people (including myself) to start their search in that realm.

oneblankspace

12 years ago

Reply to CursedClevelander

You could let the winning run with nobody out in the 10th before being relieved. So 9.0 IP is not necessarily a CG.

CursedClevelander

12 years ago

Reply to oneblankspace

Yup. You could also get a GS of over 90 with less than 9 IP if you struck out enough guys. For example, 8 perfect IP with 9 Ks is a GS of 91. So if you let a batter reach on an error in the 9th without recording an out, get relieved, and subsequently lose the game, you’d still fit the criteria.

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to oneblankspace

Likewise a pitcher could relieve in the first inning with nobody out, pitch 9 innings and not have a CG.

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Such as Ernie Shore’s “perfect” game, relieving Babe Ruth on 6/23/1917.

kds

12 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Relievers, by definition, cannot get a game score. fwiw.

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to oneblankspace

Here is a game with 9 IP, losing in the 10th with nobody out.

I remember this one because the Expos Mark Gardner had no-hit the Dodgers through 9. Two days later the Expos did get their no-hitter – a perfect game by Dennis Martinez.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN199107260.shtml

wlcmlc

12 years ago

Johnson pitched a no hitter in his game.

Author

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to wlcmlc

… and his own 2-base error in the 9th led to the run.

wlcmlc

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

Game score seems to be heavily reliant on strikeouts. Can you get one of 90+ without a lot of Ks? Maddux pitched a complete game shutout against Sebra. He let up 4 hits, had 2 Ks and 1 BB and only faced 28 batters, but his GS was only 80.

CursedClevelander

12 years ago

Reply to wlcmlc

Yeah, it’s pretty heavy on K’s. In a 9 inning game, a pitcher can’t top 90 without any strikeouts. A 9 IP perfect game with 0 Ks would be a GS of 87.

Author

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to wlcmlc

With no Ks, you’d need 11 perfect innings to get a Game Score of 90.

With 4 Ks, you’d need 10 perfect IP to reach a 90 GS.

In 9 IP or less, you’d need at least 8 Ks to reach a 90 GS.

wlcmlc

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

So I looked up Harvey Haddix’s game score in his great game and saw it was 107. Is that the highest GS ever?

Also, it would be interesting to see the win loss records of pitchers when they have a GS of 90+. The reason is that when I was looking up Appier I noticed he had at least two GS scores of 90+ where he did not get the win.

kds

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

Uh, no John. Game Score = 50 + outs + 2 * (complete innings – 4) + K – BB – 2 * R – 2 * ER. So, 10 complete innings => 92 before hits, runs, walks and K’s.

Author

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

Thanks for the correction, kds. I was only adding 1 point for each completed inning after the 4th, instead of 2 points. So, to correct my prior statement in full: — With no Ks, you’d need 10 perfect IP to reach a 90 Game Score (92). — 9 perfect IP and 3 Ks gets you to 90 exactly. — 8 perfect IP and 8 Ks hits 90 on the nose. — 7 perfect IP and 13 Ks is another 90. The highest GSc recorded for 7 IP or less is 86, by Jake Peavy. For 8 IP or less, the… Read more »

Author

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

The highest GSc in a 6-IP game is 80, by Matt Perisho of Texas in a no-decision on the last day of the ’99 season.

Author

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

wlcmlc @24 — The highest game score in the searchable era (since 1919) is 127, done 3 times:

The last one was by Carl Hubbell in 1933, an 18-IP shutout with 12 Ks.

The others were by opposing pitchers Joe Oeschger and Leon Cadore in a 26-IP, 1-1 tie in 1920.

(Cadore got a week off after his ordeal and Oeschger 12 days.)

So while it may seem that the Game Score formula is heavy on strikeouts, stamina and a strong opponent can be even bigger factors in racking up a high score.

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

In response to wlcmlc (#14), the record (W-L-T) for teams with pitchers having a 90+ game score is 1177-118-16, a .904 winning percentage.

Author

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to wlcmlc

So that’s at least 3 Johnsons with a no-hitter.

CursedClevelander

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

Also, Charles Johnson was the catcher for three no-no’s: Kevin Brown, Al Leiter and AJ Burnett.

Mike Felber

12 years ago

I would like to see opinions & analysis of what likely was the greatest game or games ever pitched. That considers not only GS & dominance, but the era, park, & especially quality of the competition, & to the extent possible how good they were on that particular day. Since by pure coincidence a bunch of players could be slumping at one time, just as a high # of BBIP could be caught. Who, if you had to reincarnate their performance in any era, say, 1000 times, might have pitched the most dominant game ever, best if run out against… Read more »

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

Reply to Mike Felber

Greatest MLB game ever pitched? OK, I’ll be first: ADDIE JOSS, Cleveland Indians – perfect game on October 2nd, 1908 vs. the Chicago White Sox, winning 1-0. In the midst of perhaps the tightest pennant race in MLB history (1967 AL also gets mentioned), with the Indians a game ahead of the White Sox and a half-game behind the Tigers, Joss throws a perfect game on only 74 pitches. Ed Walsh of the White Sox was great, setting a new AL record with 15 K’s, but Joss was better. From contemporary accounts, the tension was unbearable the last few innings.… Read more »

Mike Felber

12 years ago

Reply to Lawrence Azrin

Thanks Lawrence, but please check my original question: I was not defining greatest as at all related to clutch, drama, or impact. I was not even using only dominance, since this is reasonably interpreted as dominating in that context. Thus many pitchers could easily be more dominant than those who pitched BETTER, considering the era, park, team, & how good the team was that day. Even meteorological conditions can help. No, I ask: consider the stuff, pitch selection, & any other tangible aspects of performance. If you reincarnated all the best candidates to pitch in 10,000 different MLB contexts across… Read more »

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Mike Felber

I’ll mention this game, just because I suspect most wouldn’t be aware of it. http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NY1/NY1192809230.shtml Joe Genewich of the Giants duelled Dolf Luque of the Reds on Sep 23, 1928, with the Giants prevailing 2-1 in 14 innings. Both pitchers went the distance with Genewich allowing only 5 hits, including a solo HR in the 7th. His game score was 101. The Giants trailed the Cardinals by 4.5 games on Sep 9th, then went on a 16-2 run. But, the Cardinals were almost as good, and still led by a game on Sep 22, setting up this matchup. This game… Read more »

12 years ago

Did some checking and not surprisingly, this was Sebra’s only game score above 90. Johnson had one other….on April 17, 1963 he pitched 12 innings of one run ball and got the victory when the Colts scored in the top of the 13th. The losing pitcher, in relief, was none other than Don Larsen. If I counted correctly, Appier had a total of 4 starts with a game score above 90. He definitely had some bad luck in those games. In addition to the game above, on July 23, 1992 he pitched 10 shutout innings against the Indians. But the… Read more »

Gerry

11 years ago

Put James Shields at the top of the list, 94 Game Score in a 9-inning loss, 2 October 2012.