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ShareThisPitchers’ RBI late in games in 2009
These days, it's fairly rare for pitchers to get big at-bats in games. What I really mean is that when the score is close late in a game, especially when there are runners on base, in most cases the pitcher up at bat will be removed for a pinch-hitter. In the National League, these situations are often avoided altogether by use of double-switches late in games to ensure that the pitcher will not come to bat unless there has already been a significant rally.
Sometimes, however, pitchers do bat with runners on base late in games. Most often, this happens in cases where the pitcher is actually a good hitter and may be a better option than any of the bench players (when adding in the consideration that he'll return to the mound to pitch the next inning) or very late in a game when the manager is loathe to relieve the pitcher and would prefer to take his chances letting him hit.
Here are the instances in the 2009 season when a pitcher batted from the 7th inning onwards with at least one runner on base and produced an RBI for his team.
| Yr# | Gm# | Date | Batter | Tm | Opp | Pitcher | Score | Inn | RoB | Out | Pit(cnt) | RBI | Play Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 2009-04-18 | Will Ohman | LAD | COL | Ryan Speier | ahead 8-3 | 1B | b 7 | 1-3 | 2 | 5 (2-2) | 1 | Single to RF (Ground Ball thru 2B-1B); Kemp Scores/Team unER; Ausmus to 3B |
| 2 | 1 | 2009-05-09 | Eric Stults | LAD | SFG | Osiris Matos | ahead 6-0 | 1B | b 8 | -23 | 1 | 1 (0-0) | 1 | Single to RF (Line Drive to Short CF-RF); Blake Scores/unER; Castro to 3B |
| 3 | 1 | 2009-05-11 | Osiris Matos | SFG | WSN | Joel Hanrahan | ahead 10-4 | 1B | b 8 | 1-3 | 2 | 3 (1-1) | 1 | Single to 2B (Ground Ball to 2B-1B); Rowand Scores; Lewis to 2B |
| 4 | 1 | 2009-05-21 | Aaron Cook | COL | @ATL | James Parr | ahead 8-0 | Out | t 7 | --3 | 1 | 5 (0-2) | 1 | Flyball: CF/Sacrifice Fly (Deep CF); Barmes Scores |
| 5 | 1 | 2009-06-05 | Jorge de la Rosa | COL | @STL | Dennys Reyes | ahead 2-1 | BB | t 7 | 123 | 0 | 5 (3-1) | 1 | Walk; Stewart Scores; Smith to 3B; Phillips to 2B |
| 6 | 1 | 2009-06-28 | Mariano Rivera | NYY | @NYM | Francisco Rodrig | ahead 3-2 | BB | t 9 | 123 | 2 | 7 (3-2) | 1 | Walk; Cabrera Scores; Gardner to 3B; Jeter to 2B |
| 8 | 2 | 2009-06-30 | Jason Marquis | COL | @LAD | Chad Billingsley | ahead 1-0 | 1B | t 7 | 123 | 2 | 2 (1-0) | 2 | Single to LF (Line Drive); Hawpe Scores; Stewart Scores; Iannetta out at 3B/LF-3B-SS |
| 10 | 2 | 2009-07-05 | Roy Oswalt | HOU | @SFG | Merkin Valdez | ahead 5-0 | 1B | t 8 | -23 | 2 | 6 (3-2) | 2 | Single to LF (Line Drive to LF-CF); Michaels Scores; Keppinger Scores; Oswalt out at 2B/P-2B |
| 11 | 1 | 2009-07-11 | Craig Stammen | WSN | @HOU | Jeff Fulchino | ahead 9-2 | 2B | t 7 | -2- | 0 | 1 (0-0) | 1 | Double to RF (Ground Ball); Gonzalez Scores |
| 12 | 1 | 2009-07-18 | Dan Haren | ARI | @STL | Josh Kinney | ahead 2-1 | BB | t 8 | 123 | 2 | 5 (3-1) | 1 | Walk; Reynolds Scores; Montero to 3B; Young to 2B |
| 13 | 1 | 2009-08-04 | Guillermo Mota | LAD | MIL | R.J. Swindle | ahead 16-4 | 1B | b 8 | -2- | 2 | 1 (0-0) | 1 | Single to RF (Line Drive to Deep CF-RF); Ethier Scores |
| 14 | 1 | 2009-08-16 | Randy Wolf | LAD | @ARI | Blaine Boyer | ahead 7-0 | 2B | t 8 | 1-- | 0 | 2 (0-1) | 1 | Double to RF (Ground Ball); Castro Scores |
| 15 | 1 | 2009-08-24 | Adam Eaton | COL | SFG | Justin Miller | down 1-4 | BB | b14 | 123 | 1 | 5 (3-1) | 1 | Walk; Fowler Scores; Iannetta to 3B; Tulowitzki to 2B |
| 16 | 1 | 2009-09-06 | Micah Owings | CIN | @ATL | Kenshin Kawakami | tied 2-2 | HBP | t12 | 123 | 1 | 2 (0-1) | 1 | Hit By Pitch; Votto Scores; Rolen to 3B; Balentien to 2B |
| 17 | 1 | 2009-09-08 | Ryan Dempster | CHC | @PIT | Virgil Vasquez | ahead 8-2 | 1B | t 7 | -23 | 1 | 1 (0-0) | 1 | Single to LF (Ground Ball); Soto Scores; Fukudome to 3B |
| 18 | 1 | 2009-09-25 | Carlos Zambrano | CHC | @SFG | Tim Lincecum | ahead 1-0 | Out | t 7 | 1-3 | 1 | 1 (0-0) | 1 | Groundout: SS-2B/Forceout at 2B (Weak SS); Scales Scores |
| 19 | 2 | 2009-09-25 | Carlos Zambrano | CHC | @SFG | Randy Johnson | ahead 2-0 | 2B | t 9 | 1-- | 2 | 2 (0-1) | 1 | Double to LF (Line Drive to Deep LF-CF); Fuld Scores |
Because of the rarity of this event, as we might expect, we see some strange instances on this list.
Here are some observations on this group:
- Indeed there are a number of good-hitting pitchers in this group, including Zambrando, Marquis, and Owings.
- Zambrano is the only player to do it twice this season and he managed to do it twice in the same game, which is pretty amazing. That must be a pretty memorable game for Zambrano. He got RBIs off Tim Lincecum and Randy Johnson and pitched a 3-0 shutout. Nice.
- Four of the RBI were bases-loaded walks, which can be blamed entirely on the pitcher (the one who was pitching, I mean, not the pitcher who was hitting.) The RBI walk by Mariano Rivera is especially egregious, given that it was only his 3rd career plate appearance.
- Owings got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the top of the 12th inning, a +19% WPA play, and batted in the eventual winning run.
- Perhaps the weird entry of all on this list is Adam Eaton's. He came to bat in the bottom of the 14th inning after having given up 3 runs in the top of the inning. The Rockies came to bat in the bottom of the 14th with just a 5% chance to win by the Win Expectancy measure. With 2 singles and a walk sandwiching an out, the Rockies loaded the bases but increased their chances to just 21%. Eaton batted and walked, driving in a run and pushing the odds to 34%. The Ryan Spilborghs hit a walk-off grand slam, adding in the extra 66% and giving the win to the Rockies. That means that despite pitching only one inning, Eaton had a -31% contribution to the win but at the plate he had a +13%.
This entry was posted on Monday, March 29th, 2010 at 8:23 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
March 29th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
"RBIs off Tim Lincecum and Randy Johnson and pitched a 3-0 shutout"
Even if you did nothing else in your career, this would be one hell of a story to tell.
I think Rivera's RBI BB came in the game he got his 500th save. Great day.
How many total AB/PA did pitchers have in these situations?
March 31st, 2010 at 8:51 am
Yeah Rivera's RBI walk came in the same game as his 500th save. First career RBI. I think he said that the RBI was more memorable for him than the save.
April 1st, 2010 at 5:22 pm
I think if you did an all time list, Rick Camps RBI on 7-5-1985 would jump right off the page.