Mlb Feats That Wont Be Done Again
Like practically everything else in this world, no-hitters are a frivolity. They almost always marker fairly impressive pitching performances, but most no-hitters rely as much on nifty luck as great skill. Again: Only similar most things.
Rangers starter Colby Lewis came two outs shy of a no-striking performance on Thursday. It would take been the 253rd no-hitter in modernistic Major League Baseball history. Nine-inning no-hitters are only a touch rarer than hit for the cycle, another trivial and typically random accomplishment. But the post-obit 17 single-game feats, though also dictated more by fickle fortune than enduring excellence, are far rarer — and thus arguably more impressive — than both no-hitters and cycles.
They follow hither, ranked in a somewhat arbitrary guild based on both their rarity, their value, and how much I'd relish seeing them happen. The listing by and large refers but to the following achievements occurring in nine-inning games, and excludes things that have never yet happened in a Major League game, lest it go on forever.
17. Five stolen bases
Baton Hamilton (Photo: AP Photo/Gary Landers)
After Tigers first baseman Johnny Neun stole five bases in a game against the Yankees in July of 1927, Major League Baseball game went more than 44 years without a five-steal game before Amos Otis did it for the Royals in 1971. Dating back to 1913 — when baseball-reference.com'south incredible play alphabetize begins tracking these things — in that location have been only 23 games in which a player stole five bases or more. Stealing v bases in a game necessarily means yous have either gotten on base three times or you lot take stolen home, both of which are fairly impressive. Merely a handful of the five-steal games took identify for the winning teams in lopsided victories, which seems like unnecessary running. Billy Hamilton, unsurprisingly, is the most recent player to swipe five numberless in i game — just last year. Otis Nixon, Eric Young Sr. and Carl Crawford are the only players since 1913 who have stolen 6 bases in a game.
16. Three pickoffs
The most prolific pickoff pitchers in baseball rarely catch more than than 10 guys napping all flavour, so doing it three times in a unmarried game is incredibly novel, if non terribly heady. As such, it has happened only nine times since 1930, and not once since Marking Langston did it for the Expos against the Cubs dorsum in 1989. Only two guys have always picked off four runners in a single game, and one of them — quondam Blue Jays pitcher Jerry Garvin — did information technology merely one calendar month later on another three-pickoff game in 1977.
That'south nuts: There are only ix three-pickoff games on record, and Garvin is responsible for two of them. Not surprisingly, Garvin likewise fix the single-season record for pickoffs that year with 23, four more than the side by side best in baseball history. He but picked off seven more dudes in the remaining five seasons of his career, partly because he became a reliever and partly because baserunners probably just scrapped leads entirely whenever Garvin was on the mound.
fifteen. 5 walks
Straight Moneyball, baby. Walking five times in a game means either yous're extremely patient or you terrify opposing pitchers, and it represents an offensive achievement that even Baby Ruth never managed. Since 1913, there have been 107 games in which a hitter walked at least five times. Hall of Famer Mel Ott did it four times — a tape — and time to come Hall of Famer Barry Bonds is the only guy to practise it thrice. When Bryce Harper walked six times in a game against the Cubs earlier this flavour, he became only the 4th histrion in baseball history to do so.
14. Four hit batters
This one'southward more than ignominious than impressive, simply if y'all plunk iv batters in a unmarried game and live to tell the tale, you're either doing something right or you've paid off the umpires to ensure they'll never eject you. It has happened only 24 times since 1913, most recently by Reds starter Josh Smith against the Brewers last year. Incidentally, Smith was the eighth guy to do information technology since 2000, and the prior vii — Orel Hershiser, James Baldwin, Pedro Astacio, Scott Schoeneweis, Victor Zambrano, Orlando Hernandez and Livan Hernandez — all spent fourth dimension with the New York Mets.
xiii. Six hits
In most cases, collecting six hits in a unmarried game requires either a ton of plate appearances — specially in actress-innings marathons — or a whole host of proficient luck, dribblers getting through the infield and such. There have been an fifty-fifty 100 six-hit games since 1913, and just three guys — 1930s outfielder Doc Cramer and Hall of Famers Jim Bottomley and Jimmie Foxx — accept washed information technology more than once. Some guy named Johnny Burnett holds the all-time tape for hits in a game with 9, thank you to a wild 18-inning contest in 1932 in which Connie Mack's Athletics beat the Indians, 18-17, and which also saw Foxx enjoy one of his six-hit games. Only one player has ever nerveless more half-dozen hits in a ix-inning game: Pirates infielder Rennie Stennett, who went 7-for-vii in a 22-0 win over the Cubs in 1975. Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon owns the sport's virtually recent six-hit effort in a 2014 game against the Diamondbacks.
12. Three striking-by-pitches
Did you know that in the form of a piddling more than one calendar year from April xvi, 2005 to Apr 29, 2006, Blue Jays outfielder Reed Johnson was striking by three pitches in a game on 3 separate occasions? I didn't, only now I do. The ever-gritty Johnson is responsible for 3 of the 25 games in which a histrion has been hit by three pitches since 1913, only now Rays outfielder Brandon Guyer is charging difficult for his throne. Guyer got plunked thrice in an early on October game against the Blue Jays final season, and over again this April in a game against the Crimson Sox. Though he's typically a part-time player, Guyer is clearly baseball's most prolific contemporary hit-by-pitch expert. He's on the disabled list right now, only somehow it's due to a strained hamstring.
11. Five extra-base hits
Jackie Bradley Jr. (PHOTO: AP Photograph/Charles Krupa)
Not a lot of novelty to this one: If you smack five extra-base hits in the same game, you are near likely a really skilful hitter enjoying the best day of your career. Information technology has happened but eight times since 1913, and a few of them qualify for a couple later distinctions on this list. Amazingly, two of the viii came for the Cleveland Indians in losing efforts. The Cherry Sox' Jackie Bradley Jr. did information technology most recently, in a 22-10 thumping of the Mariners concluding August.
10. 27 batters faced in a complete game
By definition, this one includes all perfect games, even if a pitcher facing the minimum in a complete-game isn't necessarily equally impressive as a total-blown perfect game. It ways that whatsoever time a batter reached base, the pitcher managed to retire him via pickoff or double play, or with the aid of his catcher via a defenseless stealing, and thus it represents the pinnacle of pitching efficiency. Information technology has happened 86 times since 1913. Mark Buerhle, one of the most efficient pitchers in recent memory by any standard, is the only guy to exercise it three times — twice in no-hitters, in one case in a two-hitter in which he as well yielded a pair of double plays. The Diamondbacks' Josh Collmenter did it last in a 94-pitch shutout of the Reds in 2014.
9. Seven times reaching base of operations
Since 1913, simply eleven players have reached base of operations safely 7 times in a ix-inning game, including hits, hit by pitches, walks, and reaching on errors. Predictably, no one has ever reached base vii times in a game and seen his team lose that game, nor has it ever happened in a ix-inning game in which a player's team scored fewer than 19 (!) runs. Sean Casey did it concluding, for the Reds against the Rockies in 1999. In 1922, Cliff Heathcote went five-for-five with two walks for the Cubs in an insane 26-23 game that saw the Phillies nearly come back from an early on xix-run deficit.
8. Short-rest shutout, final 20 years
Johan Santana (Photo: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
Unlike everything else on this listing, this item is limited to the terminal 20 years due to changing trends in pitcher usage. Guys used to pitch on 3 and even two days' remainder with some regularity, but information technology'south far less common now that teams are more invested in keeping hurlers healthy. Information technology has happened only 15 times in regular-season games since the get-go of 1997 — a few times by knuckleballers, a few times by long-relief types making spot starts, and i fourth dimension by then-Mets ace Johan Santana with his club's season on the line belatedly in 2008 in ane of the most badass outings I have e'er witnessed in person. Teams typically but plough to starters on short rest in emergency pitching shortages these days, and turning in a curt-rest shutout marks one of our virtually extreme examples of "I got this" in gimmicky baseball.
7. 10 runs batted in
Yes, runs batted in are not a predictive stat and often say more almost the lineup effectually a hitter than the hitter himself. But driving in 10 runs on your ain in a single game is an extraordinary thing to do, and more or less guarantees your club a victory. It has happened only 12 times since 1913, near recently past Garret Anderson of the Angels in 2007. The all-time record for RBIs in a game is 12, shared by Bottomley in i of his six-striking efforts and "Hard Hittin'" Marking Whiten in — SPOILER Alarm — a game that also qualifies for the tiptop achievement on this list and which earned him the lead photograph on this post.
half-dozen. 17 strikeouts
Striking a batter out is pretty much the best matter a pitcher can do in every situation, since information technology eliminates the randomness inherent in balls hitting in play. And then striking out 17 or more batters in a nine-inning game — a feat achieved 40 times since 1913 — marks both an extremely dominant pitching functioning and an amazing thing to behold. Max Scherzer is responsible for baseball's 2 most contempo 17-plus strikeout outings, one in his October no-hitter confronting the Mets and again in his xx-strikeout game against the Tigers concluding month. Hall of Famer Randy Johnson struck out 17 or more than batters in a game six times in his career. Somehow his team lost three of them.
5. Three triples
If we're counting inside-the-park habitation runs as habitation runs, the triple is baseball game'south rarest striking. Doing information technology three times in the aforementioned game certainly requires some luck and likely some poor defence force on the role of your opponent, only it is nonetheless fun as heck because triples are admittedly awesome to watch. It should come equally no surprise, so, that Yasiel Puig is responsible for baseball game's about contempo three-triple game. Since 1913, 29 players have hit three triples in a 9-inning game. No ane has done it twice, and no one has ever hit four triples in a game. In 1995, White Sox outfielder Lance Johnson notched three triples in a vi-hit game against the Twins.
4. 15 total bases
Look: Total bases are inappreciably the first stat that come up to heed in the broad pantheon of baseball metrics, but tallying 15 or more total bases in a unmarried 9-inning game is an absurd accomplishment. It has happened 32 times, and simply Willie Mays has always washed it more than than once. Teams are 30-2 in games in which a single player totaled 15 or more bases. It happened twice terminal season: In one case past Yoenis Cespedes for the NL Champion Mets, and once by Kendrys Morales for the World Champion Royals.
3. Perfect game
Felix Hernandez (PHOTO: Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)
It feels like people frequently conflate no-hitters and perfect games, but nosotros absolutely shouldn't because the latter is much, much more impressive and the standard-bearer for pitching excellence. There have been only 23 official perfect games in Major League history, and none since Felix Hernandez's gem against the Rays in August of 2012. The 2012 flavor, oddly, saw 3 perfect games, and for a minute we might accept thought they'd start happening more often for some reason. They didn't.
two. A 100+ game score
Kerry Wood (PHOTO: AP Photo/Chicago Sun-Times, Richard A. Chapman)
It seems difficult to imagine in that location could be a pitching performance more than impressive than a perfect game, but the Nib James-invented stat "game score" suggests just that. Because it rewards strikeouts too every bit all the components of a perfect game and strikeouts, once again, reduce the randomness, game score perhaps meliorate measures a pitcher's dominance in a single outing. There have been only 13 9-inning games in history with a game score of 100 or to a higher place. Iii of them are perfect games. Vi of them game from Hall of Famers, two came from Scherzer, and one came in what stands as arguably the best nine-inning pitching operation in baseball game history.
Less than a month into his Major League career, twenty-year-former Kerry Woods threw a xx-strikeout complete game one-hitter on May v, 1998 against a loaded Houston Astros team that would go on to win 102 games that season. That outing yielded a record game score of 105. Forest, you probably know, began struggling with injuries later that season. He went on to a fairly long and generally successful big-league career, but never once again achieved anything similar the heights established in his 5th big-league kickoff. "For of all deplorable words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: 'Information technology might take been!'"
1. 4 homers
Shawn Green (Photograph: AP Photo/MIlwaukee Journal Sentinel, David Joles)
Why is this human being smile? Because he is in the midst of the single greatest offensive game in Major League history. If a dwelling run is the single best thing a hitter can do in every situation — and information technology is, no matter what anyone says — then hitting four home runs in a game easily marks the summit single-game batting achievement. It has happened 14 times, but iii of those came in extra-inning diplomacy. Josh Hamilton did it well-nigh recently, in 2012 against the Orioles.
But Shawn Green, the man in the photo higher up, enjoyed a game so good it qualifies for four of the distinctions on this list. On May 23, 2003, Greenish went half dozen-for-half dozen with a double and four home runs in a 9-inning game — good for a tape nineteen total bases. Someday, if people continue playing baseball game long enough, someone will hit five homers in a game. But until then, it seems unlikely anyone will trump Light-green's twenty-four hours on the list of single-game striking achievements.
Source: https://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/06/mlb-single-game-feats-ranked
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