Losing 3 Extra Inning Games In A Row
Posted by Steve Lombardi on September 8, 2011
Since 1919, there have only been 11 times where a baseball team lost three extra-inning games in a row:
| Rk | Strk Start | End | Games | W | L | CG | SHO | SV | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | HBP | WP | BK | Opp | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PHI | 2006-10-01 | 2007-04-04 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31.1 | 26 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 33 | 6 | 3.16 | 1 | 1 | 1 | FLA,ATL |
| 2 | BOS | 2000-06-25 | 2000-06-28 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33.2 | 37 | 20 | 12 | 11 | 26 | 5 | 3.21 | 3 | 0 | 0 | TOR,BAL |
| 3 | CLE | 1996-08-21 | 1996-08-24 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31.0 | 38 | 20 | 16 | 6 | 22 | 3 | 4.65 | 1 | 1 | 0 | TEX,MIL |
| 4 | CAL | 1975-06-23 | 1975-06-25 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36.0 | 33 | 12 | 11 | 13 | 18 | 2 | 2.75 | 2 | 1 | 0 | TEX,KCR |
| 5 | CLE | 1975-06-08 | 1975-06-10 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40.0 | 42 | 23 | 20 | 16 | 20 | 7 | 4.50 | 0 | 3 | 0 | TEX,MIN |
| 6 | MIN | 1972-08-26 | 1972-08-27 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33.0 | 30 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 17 | 3 | 2.73 | 1 | 0 | 0 | DET |
| 7 | CAL | 1966-05-31 | 1966-06-02 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37.0 | 46 | 25 | 25 | 13 | 14 | 6 | 6.08 | 0 | 1 | 0 | CLE,BAL |
| 8 | NYY | 1964-04-16 | 1964-04-18 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 32.2 | 34 | 10 | 9 | 12 | 21 | 0 | 2.48 | 0 | 1 | 0 | BOS,BAL |
| 9 | NYY | 1960-05-08 | 1960-05-12 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 31.0 | 29 | 16 | 15 | 11 | 10 | 4 | 4.35 | 3 | 0 | 0 | CHW,CLE |
| 10 | DET | 1955-07-02 | 1955-07-04 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38.0 | 41 | 26 | 21 | 17 | 25 | 5 | 4.97 | 2 | 2 | 0 | KCA,CLE |
| 11 | CHC | 1938-05-13 | 1938-05-17 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32.1 | 27 | 14 | 14 | 16 | 13 | 2 | 3.90 | 1 | 0 | 1 | PIT,NYG |
.
The 2011 Yankees have a shot at joining this group tomorrow.
Interesting note - the '64 Yankees did this to start their season.
September 8th, 2011 at 6:12 pm
Has anyone ever lost an extra inning doubleheader?
September 8th, 2011 at 6:16 pm
Answered my own question. I see the 3 MIN-DET games on your list were played in 2 days. There's likely others. What would be the most total innings in 1 day where both went extra?
September 8th, 2011 at 6:52 pm
Steve- You're forgetting that a team can lose an extra inning game without pitching more than 9 innings. Even changing your list to include teams that retired 1 or 2 batters in the 10th expands the list to 26. If we could figure out a way to find a team that lost with no outs in the 10th we can expand it even further.
September 8th, 2011 at 7:24 pm
The Tigers three losses (#10 on the list) were on 3 consecutive days in two cities, and involved games of 11, 14 and 15 innings. Ouch !
Also, a bit of a tough trip in 1955 (probably by train) to go from Kansas City to Cleveland without an off-day. Especially after playing 14 innings in an almost 4 hour game.
September 8th, 2011 at 7:55 pm
Cincinnati Reds, July 8-10, 2010.
July 8 - Came back to tie the score in the 9th to force extras.
July 9 - Blew a lead in the 9th to send the game into extra innings.
July 10 - Score was 0-0 after 9 innings (8+ perfect innings by starter Travis Wood).
All were eventual losses for them.
September 8th, 2011 at 7:55 pm
Didn't the Phillies beat the Reds in 3 straight extra inning games last July (2010)? Perhaps they fell off the list for the reason Raphy gives...
September 8th, 2011 at 7:58 pm
yep, July 8, 9, 10..... July 9th, Arthur Rhodes didn't get anyone out in the 10th
September 8th, 2011 at 8:01 pm
@3, @6 - As a matter of fact, in the middle of the three games, there was a walk-off homer with no outs in the 10th. The first of the games went into the 12th inning; the third went into the 11th. Since all were won by the home team, all were walk-off wins and thus not full innings.
September 8th, 2011 at 8:07 pm
Set the streak finder to visiting team loss, IP > 9 That will get you 15. All the consecutive visiting team losses, but no home team losses before or after the streak.
If you set either with IP> 9.1 with a loss for either home or away, you get 26. This will be all the home losses (which must go at least 10 complete innings) and all the visiting team losses except those won by the home team with no outs in the 10th.
I don't know any way to get all the home losses together with all theaway losses.
September 8th, 2011 at 8:13 pm
@ 9
I said greater than 9 for the visitor losses. The option is greater than or equal to as you know. The same thing later when you set greater than or equal to 9.1
September 8th, 2011 at 9:01 pm
Outs Made is a selectable statistics on the Batting Season Finder, so presumably could also be made available on the Team Batting Streak Finder. If it was, then the streak could be found from the Team Batting Streak Finder. Set Losses = 1 and Outs Made >= 30 (or 28 or 29).
To lose an extra-inning game (home or away), your batters must make at least 30 outs. Right.
September 8th, 2011 at 10:05 pm
Raphy - thanks. Mea culpa! Good catch
September 8th, 2011 at 10:19 pm
@Doug
The definition of outs in Batting Season Finder is AB-H+CS+SB. That counts ROE as an out. It also doesn't count SH, SF a A few other outs.
September 8th, 2011 at 10:46 pm
@13.
Thanks for clarifying Charles,
Frustrating that something seemingly so easy to define is so hard to quantify in terms of searchable stats.
September 8th, 2011 at 11:19 pm
Considering the rarity of such an occurrence, I'm very surprised that it happened twice in a 3 week period in '75, and even more surprising is that both the Angels & Indians streaks were started with home losses to the Rangers.
September 8th, 2011 at 11:25 pm
PS. A home game vs Texas also started the '96 Indians streak too!
September 8th, 2011 at 11:25 pm
@13 Doug, is the +SB in that Sacrafice Bunts? At first glance I thought it was stolen bases, but then I thought it has to be sac bunts, necause I don't see how it can be stolen bases since stolen bases are not outs.
September 8th, 2011 at 11:26 pm
Correction I meant @13 Charles, not Doug, sorry.
September 8th, 2011 at 11:32 pm
The 1975 Cleveland squad actually lost 5 extra-inning games in 6 days! That includes one on 4 consecutive days...made possible by a doubleheader (gotta love those 17-inning nightcaps!).
Just a few days before their unfortunate streak, the '75 Angels actually staged one of the great extra-inning comebacks. They answered the Rangers' 3 in the top of the 11th with 4 in the bottom to win it 12-11. This also after falling into a 6-0 hole in the first!
The '72 Twins' games were a 3-game sweep by the Tigers, all 11-inning losses.
The '66 Indians actually scored a run in extra innings in 2 their 3 losses. Unfortunately they allowed 3, 2, and 4 extra-inning runs to their opponents in their games.
The '60 Yankees allowed 5 and 4 runs in consecutive 10th innings.
September 9th, 2011 at 12:53 am
For the record, if the search criteria are reduced from 30 pitching outs to 28, there are still no 4 game streaks, but the number of 3 game streaks increases from 11 to 26. The 4 game streak could still be out there if someone can figure out a way to identify the 27 pitching out extra-inning loss.
Of the 26 streaks, the Indians own 4, the Phils and Yankees 3 each, and a pair for the Cards, Astros and Angels. Some interesting new entries are these:
- Texas at Seattle, Sep 16-19, 2002, all four games go to extras with Rangers losing the first 3
- Phillies (Aug 14-18, 1920) and White Sox (Jun 27-29, 1934) each lose 3 straight to 3 different opponents
- Braves at Dodgers, Aug 5-7, 1982, Braves lose each game by one run enroute to a 4-game sweep. Braves go 2-19 from Jul 30 to Aug 18, but still win their division. Has any other team had as bad a stretch and still made the post-season?
- Cardinals, May 14-15, 1978, St. Louis loses a twin-bill to the Giants followed by a loss to the Padres. Cardinals go 1-16 from May 12-29.
September 9th, 2011 at 1:37 am
More oddities in the 3-game streaks.
- The 1981 Dodgers lost 3 straight extras to the Giants and Reds, Sep 9-12. Earlier, they had won 3 straight extras against the Phils and Reds, May 20-23.
- The 1972 Twins lost 3 straight to the Tigers Aug 26-28 (original list). Earlier that year (May 12-13), they split back-to-back extras with the Brewers, in 22 and 15 innings !
- As Steve notes, the 1964 Yankees lost their opening 3 games to the Red Sox and Orioles. They had another 3 consecutive extras July 1-3, losing 2. Overall, they played in 26 extra-inning games that year, going 11-15 (but still won the pennant).
- Similar to the '75 Indians (eorns @19), the 1920 Phillies played a stretch of 6 games (Aug 14-20), with 5 going into extras, losing the first three and winning the last two
September 9th, 2011 at 6:03 am
@13 I typed SB. I should have typed GIDP grounded into double play.
Search 1:
If the visiting pitches exactly 9 innings and loses, because it is a game where the visiting team lost with no outs in the bottom of the 10th. If the home team pitches 9 innings and loses, it's a 9 inning game. So set the search for visiting team pitches 9 innings or more and loses. This includes all visiting team losses and does not include any home team losses. All home team losses are in search #2. Longest streak is 3.
Search 2:
Set the search for either team pitches 9.1 innings or more and loses, it's either a home team loss (10 innings or more) or visiting team loss (9.1 innings or more). This includes all home team losses in the search and all the visiting team losses except the visiting team losses with no outs in the 10th (included in search 1). Longest streak is 3.
If a 4 or more game streak exists (containing a 3 game streak in search 1) it must have a home team loss adjacent to it and it MUST have a 9 inning visiting team loss in that 3 game streak or else it would have showed up in search 2.
If a 4 game or more streak exists (containing a 3 game streak in search 2) it must have a 9 inning IP visiting team loss adjacent to it and it MUST have a home team loss in that 3 game streak or else it would have showed up in search 1.
If a 4 game streak exists that does not contain a 3 game streak from the 2 searches above, it still MUST contain one or more home team losses and MUST contain one or more 9 inning IP visting team losses and MAYBE have one or more visiting team losses with 9.1 IP or more otherwise part of that streak would have showed up in searches 1 or 2.
Therefore IF 4 game streak exists, it must have at least 1 home loss and at least one 9 IP visiting loss and this is not searchable in the streak finder. If you set either team loses pitching 9 innings, your search would include 9 inning home team losses which are 9 inning games.
September 9th, 2011 at 6:28 am
I found this in Baseball Digest in 1980
The record is 5 for consecutive extra inning games played in 1908 by Detroit. The record is 4 games in a row between two teams in 1910 and 1943. Those streaks did not include 4 losses in a row.
September 9th, 2011 at 9:16 am
@22 Let's make it simple
If a streak of 4 or more had no home losses, it would have popped up in search 1
If streak of 4 or more had no 9 IP visitor losses, it would have popped up in search 2
Both searches include visitor losses with 9.1 innings or more.
Therefore, IF a string of 4 exists it must have at least one home loss and at least one 9 IP visitor loss. That is not searchable in the PLAY index Streak Search.
September 9th, 2011 at 9:21 am
@2
I'm guessing the most total innings in a day (but not both with extra frames) was May 31, 1964. Mets-Giants twinbill at Shea. I was there (12 years old) and had to leave the nightcap in about the twelfth (school the next day). We got home and they're still playing so I got to catch more of the game on Channel 9. Total innings...32. I believe the second game held the record (and may still) of longest game in time...7:23, I believe.
September 9th, 2011 at 9:40 am
I can't think of a good way of doing this through the play index, but assuming the Retrosheet gamelogs are correct, no team has ever lost 4 extra inning games in a row.
Only 14 teams (1924 Dodgers, 1926 Reds, 1938 Pirates, 1939 Reds, 1943 Red Sox, 1943 Tigers, 1943 Browns, 1987 Giants, 1991 A's, 1992 Yankees, 1996 Red Sox, 1999 Brewers, 2002 Mariners, 2002 Rangers) played as many as 4 consecutive extra inning games. As noted in @20, the Mariners and Rangers played each other.
27 teams lost 3 consecutive extra inning games.
September 9th, 2011 at 10:54 am
That's useful to know.
If you go to streak finder and set IP greater than or equal to 9.1 I get 13 and these would been tested in search #2. The 1999 Brewers streak was missing because 2 of the games were 10th inning no out losses. Since they happened to be away games for the Brewers, they would have been tested in search 1.
You said there were 27 with 3 straight losses. I picked up 26 in search #2, which excluded 9 inning visiting losses. So that #27 must have at least 1 game with a 10 inning, no out loss by the visitors.
The Red Sox and Browns played each other in 1943 for the 4 games. The Browns had had a sting of 7 out of 8 games as extra innings.
September 9th, 2011 at 11:54 am
The Browns had had a sting of 7 out of 8 games as extra innings.
Ordinarily I'd say this was a typo. Since it involves the Browns, though, it's hard to be sure. (-;þ
September 9th, 2011 at 12:01 pm
#27
I show only 25 teams with fit that search.
Both the 1982 Mets (August 18-20) and 2010 Reds (July 8-10) lost 3 consecutive extra inning games with the second of those losses coming with 0 outs in the 10th.
September 9th, 2011 at 12:05 pm
Also, the 1980 NLCS featured 4 consecutive extra inning games.
September 9th, 2011 at 12:56 pm
I have 26 when I set the search for greater than or equal to to 9.1 innings from 1919 to 2011 with loss=1 in the streak finder. Raphy says that at post 3 also. I don't have a subscription so I can't post the list. I don't know if any of these carried over into the next season or they may have been suspended games finished later but in baseball-reference, they go back to the start date.
There were 7 from 1919 to 1961 and 19 from 1962 to 2010.
There's a problem with my search #1, when I set it to visitor, it only counts away games for the streak, so if home games were played in between, it would ignore them. Still, it didn't find a 4 game streak and some of the 3 straight away games were truly consecutive.
September 9th, 2011 at 1:24 pm
#31
My search missed the 2006-2007 Phillies.
September 9th, 2011 at 2:49 pm
Further re Charles's #23:
“During the 1908 season . . . the Detroit Tigers played in the most consecutive extra-inning games, September 9th through the 13th, five games featuring fifty-four innings.”
Source: Baseball Almanac (see note at bottom of page). Love the start date for that streak, during which the Tigers won two and lost three en route to their second of three straight AL pennants.
September 9th, 2011 at 4:04 pm
I like this series, Browns did not win a game vs Cleveland in this long series in 1915, score and extra innings, if any, shown
4/30 2-1
5/1 5-4 (11)
5/2 2-1 (11)
5/4 3-3 (14) yes a tie
5/5 2-1 (10)
5/6 4-3
5/7 4-1
September 9th, 2011 at 6:10 pm
From 1917 Pirates
Did not play Aug. 5 to 8.
August 9 home
August 10 home
August 11 doubleheader at home
August 12 at Chicago
August 13 at Chicago
August 14 at Chicago
August 15 home for 1 game vs Cin
August 16 doubleheader in Phil
August 17 doubleheader in Phil
August 18 at Phil. L 2-3 in 14 innings
August 19 ZZZZZZZZ
August 20 at Brooklyn W 1-0 in 10
August 21 at Brooklyn T 1-1 in 13
August 22 at Brooklyn L 5-6 in 22 (new National League mark)
Runners on first and second, runner scores from second on a force out at second while the second baseman held the ball. Second game called after 2 innings because of darkness. Why bother starting it? Gotta be in Boston tomorrow
August 23-25 at Boston
19 games in 17 days, 3 double headers, 1 day off, traveled 5 times, record 6-12-1
I thought the 4 games were in August 1915 first, but I didn't know what date. They played 13 games on 10 straight days according to baseball-reference.com. So I was looking at some old boxscores and I saw that the Pirates played a double header on August 17 vs the Cubs, but baseball-reference.com didn't have one of the games. The newspaper (www.newspaperarchive.com) mentioned something about the Pirate pitcher named Benton in Game 1, who they got from Cincinnatti, but the Cubs filed a protest saying that the Giants claimed they owned him. I found out at baseball-reference that Rube Benton played for the the Reds and the Giants that year but not the Pirates. So the game was eventually negated and the Pirates and Cubs played it from the start later in the year, rather than the Commissioner declaring a forfeit.
You can read about "The Bizarre Career of Rube Benton" in the SABR site.
September 9th, 2011 at 6:38 pm
Pittsburgh's Carson Bigbee set a major-league record - since tied - with 11 at-bats in a 22-inning game against Brooklyn. Bigbee was 6 for 11 in the game with no extra base hits and no runs scored. Pirate Elmer Jacobs pitched 16 2/3 innings in relief. The game was also the fourth consecutive extra-inning game by the Pirates for a total of 59 innings, a National League record.
On June 17, 1915, Zip Zabel set the record for most innings pitched in relief in one game. He came in relief for Bert Humphries with two out in the first inning, and pitched the final 18 1/3 innings to earn the win over the Brooklyn Robins and opposing pitcher Jeff Pfeffer, who pitched the complete game.
September 9th, 2011 at 7:51 pm
@31.
I end up with 28 streaks, or 27 if you don't count one streak (Phillies, 2006-07) that extended from the end of one season to the beginning of the next.
What is potentially missing is a mixed streak (some home, some away) where one or more of the away losses was a "nobody out in the 10th" scenario.
So, with that caveat, here are those 28 streaks:
PHI 1920-08-14 1920-08-17 BSN,BRO,NYG
PHI 1924-05-24 1924-05-27 STL,BSN
BSN 1925-06-04 1925-06-07 CIN
CHW 1934-06-27 1934-06-29 NYY,DET,CLE
CHC 1938-05-13 1938-05-17 PIT,NYG
DET 1955-07-02 1955-07-04 KCA,CLE
NYY 1960-05-08 1960-05-12 CHW,CLE
NYY 1964-04-16 1964-04-18 BOS,BAL
STL 1965-05-28 1965-05-30 HOU,SFG
CAL 1966-05-31 1966-06-02 CLE,BAL
HOU 1971-04-14 1971-04-16 SFG,LAD
MIN 1972-08-26 1972-08-27 DET
CLE 1975-06-08 1975-06-10 TEX,MIN
CAL 1975-06-23 1975-06-25 TEX,KCR
STL 1978-05-14 1978-05-15 SFG,SDP
LAD 1981-09-09 1981-09-12 SFG,CIN
ATL 1982-08-05 1982-08-07 LAD
NYM 1982-08-18 1982-08-20 CIN,ATL
TOR 1983-08-24 1983-08-26 BAL,DET
CLE 1989-09-16 1989-09-18 TOR,OAK
HOU 1995-09-27 1995-09-29 PIT,CHC
CLE 1996-08-21 1996-08-24 TEX,MIL
BOS 2000-06-25 2000-06-28 TOR,BAL
NYY 2001-05-13 2001-05-16 BAL,OAK
TEX 2002-09-16 2002-09-18 SEA
PHI 2006-10-01 2007-04-04 FLA,ATL
CLE 2009-06-17 2009-06-20 MIL,CHC
CIN 2010-07-08 2010-07-10 PHI
September 9th, 2011 at 8:43 pm
Chicago 3 teams in 3 days in 1934 and theye were actually in 3 cities, NY, DET, CHI. It was 104 degrees in Detroit, the hottest June 28th at that time.
September 10th, 2011 at 12:58 am
Not sure if some one saw this, but in his Rookie season, 1919 for the Bosox, Waite went extra innings in 3 of his first 4 games. pitching 41.1 innings in his first 4 games
September 10th, 2011 at 2:36 am
After all the gyrations about trying to find a search for consecutive extra-inning losses, just wanted to mention consecutive extra-inning wins is a simple and straight-forward query - you never get a win until your opponent has made all his outs.
Like losses, the longest streak of wins is also 3, and the number of streaks at 29 is also very similar. So, I'm guessing if any loss streaks @37 have been missed, it hasn't been many. Anyway, here are those 3-win streaks.
PHI, 7/8/2010, 7/10/2010, CIN
STL, 7/8/2006, 7/13/2006, HOU,LAD
OAK, 6/1/2004, 6/3/2004, CHW,TOR
SEA, 9/16/2002, 9/18/2002, TEX
COL, 6/20/2002, 6/22/2002, NYY,TBD
CIN, 7/25/1999, 7/27/1999, SFG,LAD
PHI, 8/4/1991, 8/7/1991, MON,CHC
HOU, 8/3/1991, 8/5/1991, LAD,SDP
BAL, 6/23/1991, 6/25/1991, KCR,CLE
STL, 6/1/1988, 6/3/1988, HOU,PHI
STL, 7/8/1987, 7/10/1987, LAD,SFG
PIT, 9/18/1985, 9/20/1985, MON,NYM
LAD, 8/5/1982, 8/7/1982, ATL
LAD, 5/20/1981, 5/23/1981, PHI,CIN
PIT, 7/28/1976, 7/30/1976, NYM,MON
DET, 7/11/1976, 7/16/1976, KCR,OAK
BAL, 4/7/1973, 4/12/1973, MIL,DET
DET, 8/26/1972, 8/27/1972, MIN
LAD, 5/7/1970, 5/9/1970, NYM,PHI
STL, 9/1/1968, 9/3/1968, NYM,CIN
NYY, 8/9/1959, 8/10/1959, KCA,BOS
PIT, 7/5/1959, 7/10/1959, CIN,CHC
MLN, 5/1/1957, 5/3/1957, NYG,PIT
CHW, 8/7/1956, 8/8/1956, KCA,CLE
PHI, 5/26/1955, 5/28/1955, NYG,PIT
BOS, 5/9/1940, 5/11/1940, DET,NYY
CIN, 8/22/1926, 8/23/1926, BSN,NYG
CIN, 6/4/1925, 6/7/1925, BSN
CIN, 9/20/1923, 9/22/1923, PHI,BRO