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ShareThisMost consecutive starts, more than 9 IP
Raphy's post the other day made me wonder about longest streaks for an individual pitcher with more than 9 IP. That means at least 9.1 innings in each start. Here are the leaders since 1954:
StreakStart Streak End Games W L GS CG SHO GF SV IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA HBP WP BK Teams +-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Bill Singer 1973-09-20 1973-09-29 3 2 1 3 3 0 0 0 32 30 11 11 18 20 0 3.09 1 1 0 CAL Bob Gibson 1969-09-14 1969-09-23 3 1 2 3 3 0 0 0 30 24 6 6 14 15 0 1.80 0 0 0 STL Jim Kaat 1962-08-01 1962-08-10 3 2 1 3 2 0 0 0 31.1 22 4 4 9 25 1 1.15 2 4 0 MIN Greg Maddux 1988-05-11 1988-05-17 2 1 1 2 1 1 0 0 20.2 10 3 3 4 15 0 1.31 0 0 0 CHC Mike Torrez 1983-07-26 1983-07-31 2 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 21 12 1 1 8 5 1 0.43 1 0 0 NYM Dave Stieb 1983-05-11 1983-05-16 2 2 0 2 1 0 0 0 20 12 2 2 11 17 0 0.90 1 0 0 TOR Steve Rogers 1982-09-23 1982-09-28 2 1 1 2 2 0 0 0 21 19 6 6 4 16 0 2.57 1 0 0 MON Dennis Martinez 1982-08-20 1982-08-24 2 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 20 11 5 4 6 10 1 1.80 0 2 0 BAL Larry Gura 1980-05-17 1980-05-21 2 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 23 21 3 3 5 10 1 1.17 0 0 0 KCR Ross Grimsley 1978-08-27 1978-09-01 2 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 20 9 3 3 9 7 0 1.35 0 0 0 MON Dave Lemanczyk 1977-07-13 1977-07-17 2 1 1 2 1 0 0 0 21.1 21 10 8 6 8 2 3.38 2 2 0 TOR Nolan Ryan 1976-08-12 1976-08-18 2 1 1 2 1 0 0 0 20 18 6 5 9 26 1 2.25 0 1 0 CAL Bert Blyleven 1976-06-21 1976-06-26 2 2 0 2 2 2 0 0 20 11 0 0 6 13 0 0.00 1 0 0 TEX Mark Fidrych 1976-05-31 1976-06-05 2 2 0 2 2 0 0 0 22 18 6 6 5 16 1 2.45 1 1 0 DET Dennis Leonard 1976-05-30 1976-06-04 2 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 20.2 16 5 4 6 12 0 1.74 1 2 1 KCR Jackie Brown 1976-05-29 1976-06-02 2 1 0 2 1 1 0 0 19.1 7 0 0 5 9 0 0.00 1 0 0 CLE Gaylord Perry 1975-08-21 1975-08-26 2 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 21 22 4 4 1 16 0 1.71 0 0 0 TEX Doc Medich 1974-09-25 1974-10-01 2 1 1 2 2 1 0 0 19.1 17 3 3 9 10 0 1.40 1 1 0 NYY Bill Lee 1974-09-21 1974-09-25 2 1 1 2 2 0 0 0 19.1 21 6 6 5 3 1 2.79 1 0 0 BOS Mickey Lolich 1974-08-20 1974-08-24 2 1 1 2 2 1 0 0 21 23 6 4 5 14 1 1.71 0 0 0 DET Luis Tiant 1974-06-14 1974-06-19 2 1 1 2 1 0 0 0 24.1 14 5 5 8 12 1 1.85 0 0 0 BOS Bill Singer 1973-05-10 1973-05-14 2 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 21 11 5 5 9 24 1 2.14 0 0 0 CAL Rick Wise 1972-09-24 1972-09-30 2 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 21 14 2 2 8 8 0 0.86 0 1 0 STL Catfish Hunter 1972-06-14 1972-06-20 2 1 1 2 2 0 0 0 21 11 4 3 6 18 3 1.29 1 1 0 OAK Clay Kirby 1972-06-02 1972-06-07 2 0 1 2 1 0 0 0 23 15 2 1 6 13 0 0.39 0 0 0 SDP +-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ StreakStart Streak End Games W L GS CG SHO GF SV IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA HBP WP BK Teams +-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Clay Kirby 1971-09-24 1971-09-29 2 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 25 15 2 2 8 26 1 0.72 0 0 0 SDP Mickey Lolich 1971-07-27 1971-07-31 2 1 1 2 2 0 0 0 23 19 7 5 1 24 2 1.96 0 0 0 DET Gaylord Perry 1971-05-02 1971-05-07 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 20.1 15 6 5 4 7 1 2.21 0 0 0 SFG Mel Stottlemyre 1970-07-27 1970-08-01 2 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 20 15 3 2 3 11 0 0.90 0 0 0 NYY Joe Coleman 1970-04-22 1970-04-27 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 18.2 9 5 5 8 10 3 2.41 0 0 0 WSA Steve Blass 1970-04-07 1970-04-12 2 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 20 16 4 4 6 12 0 1.80 0 0 0 PIT Ken Holtzman 1969-09-14 1969-09-19 2 1 1 2 2 0 0 0 19.1 16 3 3 6 8 1 1.40 1 0 0 CHC Phil Niekro 1969-09-09 1969-09-13 2 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 21 12 1 1 4 9 1 0.43 0 0 0 ATL Juan Marichal 1968-07-23 1968-07-28 2 2 0 2 2 0 0 0 21 12 5 3 5 12 0 1.29 0 0 0 SFG Bob Gibson 1968-05-01 1968-05-06 2 2 0 2 2 0 0 0 23 10 2 1 6 18 0 0.39 0 0 0 STL Jack Fisher 1967-05-02 1967-05-09 2 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 22.2 16 4 3 6 10 1 1.19 1 0 0 NYM Chris Short 1965-10-02 1966-04-13 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 24.2 19 2 2 5 26 0 0.73 0 0 0 PHI Sammy Ellis 1965-06-25 1965-06-29 2 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 25 12 2 2 11 20 1 0.72 0 0 0 CIN Mel Stottlemyre 1965-05-30 1965-06-05 2 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 20 13 5 4 11 12 1 1.80 1 0 0 NYY Bennie Daniels 1964-09-19 1964-09-27 2 1 0 2 1 1 0 0 20 12 2 1 6 7 1 0.45 0 0 0 WSA Jack Kralick 1964-04-25 1964-05-02 2 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 22.2 17 4 2 4 17 0 0.79 0 0 0 CLE Stan Williams 1961-05-17 1961-05-22 2 2 0 2 2 0 0 0 21 8 2 2 15 19 0 0.86 0 0 0 LAD Arnie Portocarrer 1958-07-15 1958-07-20 2 2 0 2 2 0 0 0 22 9 5 5 5 9 0 2.05 0 0 0 BAL Billy Hoeft 1957-08-30 1957-09-03 2 1 1 2 1 0 0 0 20.2 16 8 8 4 9 2 3.48 1 0 0 DET Curt Simmons 1957-05-30 1957-06-05 2 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 20 13 3 2 3 2 1 0.90 0 0 0 PHI Dick Donovan 1956-09-14 1956-09-21 2 1 1 2 2 0 0 0 21 14 5 5 4 14 0 2.14 0 1 1 CHW Billy Pierce 1956-09-13 1956-09-18 2 1 1 2 2 0 0 0 21 16 6 5 3 16 2 2.14 0 1 0 CHW Vern Law 1955-07-19 1955-07-24 2 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 28 13 4 3 2 20 2 0.96 0 1 0 PIT Johnny Schmitz 1954-08-22 1954-08-27 2 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 21 21 4 4 8 8 0 1.71 1 1 0 WSH Charlie Bishop 1954-08-14 1954-08-22 2 2 0 2 2 0 0 0 23 12 6 6 16 7 1 2.35 3 0 0 PHA +-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ StreakStart Streak End Games W L GS CG SHO GF SV IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA HBP WP BK Teams +-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Art Houtteman 1954-05-02 1954-05-09 2 1 1 2 2 0 0 0 19.2 13 5 1 3 3 0 0.46 0 0 0 CLE
I'm willing to be that if the boxscores went way back, there are lots of much longer streaks since pitchers routinely used to throw more than 9 innings when games were tied.
It's interesting that most of these pitchers are very well-known and a lot of them are good too, but then you see a name like Arnie Portocarrer, who was previously unknown to me.
You've got feel bad for the handful of guys here--Kirby, Perry, Coleman, and Short--who didn't get a win in either of their 2 games. I'll add a little sympathy for Bob Gibson, who lost two of his games despite allowign only 6 ER over all 3 games.
Of course, when dealing with pitchers in extra-inning games, losses are more likely since allowing an earned run in any extra inning is far more likely to cost the game than runs in any earlier inning (except for 9th inning of a tied game.)
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 5th, 2009 at 7:16 am and is filed under Streak Finders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
August 5th, 2009 at 7:37 am
The name is Portocarrero.
August 5th, 2009 at 8:19 am
Missed that when I clicked through...those long names!
August 5th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
I had an Arnie Portocarrero trading card one year when I was a kid in the early 1960s. So I had heard of him. But I probably hadn't heard the name since then! (Of course, my mother threw out all of my trading cards from that time period.)
August 5th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
A lot of these pitchers are hall-of-famers no wonder there on this list