Ross Ohlendorf starts and loses–despite throwing only 10 pitches
Posted by Andy on August 25, 2010
Eagle-eyed reader Erik K sent me a tip on something very unusual that happened two nights ago. Ross Ohlendorf started for the Pirates and threw only 10 pitches before leaving with an injury. The first two batters reached and then Ohlendorf was removed with shoulder tightness. Sean Gallagher relieved and surrendered a 3-run HR to Albert Pujols. The Pirates never tied the came, so Ohlendorf took the loss.
Here are the only other games in the PI database since 1988 where a starter threw no more than 10 pitches and got the loss:
| Rk | Player | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | App,Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | Pit | Str | GSc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ross Ohlendorf | 2010-08-23 | PIT | STL | L 2-10 | GS-0 ,L | 0.0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 39 |
| 2 | Darrell Rasner | 2007-05-19 | NYY | NYM | L 7-10 | GS-1 ,L | 0.0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 5 | 38 |
| 3 | Ervin Santana | 2006-08-10 | LAA | CLE | L 2-14 | GS-1 ,L | 0.1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 46 |
| 4 | Jamie McAndrew | 1995-08-28 | MIL | CHW | L 5-6 | GS-1 ,L | 0.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 44 |
| 5 | Tom Glavine | 1989-05-16 | ATL | CHC | L 3-4 | GS-1 ,L | 0.0 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 5 | 28 |
STATS Inc reported that Roger Clemens also had such a game since 1988 but it doesn't show up here. I see why, in this 1988 game, Clemens is credited in our database as throwing 11 pitches, but the play-by-play notes that Robert Person relieved mid-batter, so Clemens threw at most 10 pitches in that game and therefore should be on the list above.
August 25th, 2010 at 9:46 am
Wow-Glavine only threw 7 pitches and gave up 4 hits. Crazy. I guess the Cubbies were up there hacking that day!
August 25th, 2010 at 9:58 am
Maybe I'm a bit slow, but someone will need to explain to me why McAndrew got the loss in that ChiSox-Brewers game in '95. He pitched to one batter, who later scored. But then Angel Miranda came in and gave up 5 runs. Final score was 6-5. Seems to me, Miranda gave up the go-ahead run and should get the loss.
August 25th, 2010 at 10:10 am
It was 6-0 before the BrewCrew scored. They never had the lead. So the P who gave up the first run gets the loss.
August 25th, 2010 at 11:42 am
Seems to me that this should be more prevalent. If you throw 10 pitches and get yanked, you either got hurt or gave up a buttload of runs, and the latter would probably saddle you with the loss.
How about which starting pitchers threw the fewest pitches and got the win? Obviously, they'd need to throw five innings, so I wonder how few pitches they could get by with.
August 25th, 2010 at 11:54 am
Good question Dan.
Since 2000 the results are amazing:
http://bbref.com/pi/shareit/PzCQ2
I checked that box score for Maddux and it looks accurate.
August 25th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
Tim L - and that's another reason why won-loss records can be deceiving. So much is riding on your bullpen, defense, and offense. Those things are mostly out of your control.
August 25th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Boy Maddux was economical, wasn't he? Thanks, Andy.
August 25th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
Andy @ 5
Amazing list. Thanks. And I like the premise of the article too.
August 25th, 2010 at 7:14 pm
Tim, Rasner's game, too, is an example of why a decision should always be the pitchers when the deciding run scored. I mean, getting a loss in a 10-7 game for allowing the first two runs? Epic fail.
August 25th, 2010 at 9:22 pm
For a while in the 1980s, there was a Game Winning RBI statistic that appeared in box scores. It, too, was based on the run that gave the winning team a lead that it never surrendered. If that run scored in a situation in which no RBI was awarded (wild pitch, error, etc.), the notation was "Game Winning RBI - None", or something like that. It may have been abbreviated as GWRBI or GW RBI.
Supposedly it was removed from the box scores because players were getting too fixated on it. But it was also somewhat misleading in certain close games, such as one in which a team jumped out to a 6-0 lead and then held on to win 6-5. And it was also somewhat meaningless in routs, such as the first run scored in a 12-0 victory.
August 25th, 2010 at 11:28 pm
Yes Andy, your list is amazing, but unfortunately it doesn't go back beyond 2000 so doesn't include the 58 pitch "complete" game thrown by Red Barrett of the Boston Braves in 1944.
Charles Henry "Red" Barrett pitched the shortest complete night game with the fewest number of pitches in history.
On August 10, 1944, throwing for the Boston Braves against his former team Cincinnati Reds, Barrett pitched a 2–0 shutout at Crosley Field. It was the shortest night game in history, lasting just 1 hour and 15 minutes. His 58 pitches were also the fewest pitches thrown in a complete game. He faced the minimum 27 batters, surrendered 2 hits, walked no one and struck out no one. The game was umpired behind home plate by the noted umpire Jocko Conlon.
August 26th, 2010 at 5:34 am
Mike, keep in mind these are lowest pitch totals to a win, not in a complete game.
August 26th, 2010 at 9:51 pm
Andy: Here is your list of pitchers who had the lowest # of pitches to a Win.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/shareit/PzCQ2
#'s 14 through 21 had 58 pitches and won and everyone only pitched 5 innings.
I gave you "Red" Barrett who not only got a win but he pitched 9 innings, and got a complete game AND a Shutout to boot.
I guess I should have left off the fact he pitched a complete game...
But at least someone commented on a Post on Red Barrett.
A couple weeks ago I mentioned the 58 pitches by "Red" Barrett in a BR Blog Post (forgot where), and it was completely ignored.
P.S. When this happened in 1944, I was very surprised that anyone counted pitches at the time.
I used to read every Box Score in the 3 papers in the city I lived in at the time (Chicago), and I had a subscription to the Sporting News that was delivered by mail weekly and had all the box scores from the previous week.
Never saw a pitch count. Hopefully it was done but never made it to the papers and can be updated to the Retrosheet boxes and eventually get into the BR boxes.
August 26th, 2010 at 11:48 pm
Double D, true, GWRBI was silly. But a pitcher has more control over the game than a batter. I think you could argue that a starter should get the win even if the game gets closer later, but to get a loss for what happens so much later on is just folly.
August 27th, 2010 at 6:26 am
Mike Gaber, sorry I wasn't trying to poo-poo the Barrett game--just trying to make sure we weren't getting confused about what we looked up (like the time I talked to Brooks Robinson and confused homers on opening day vs homers leading off a game...ugh.)
I wonder about Barrett's game...seems like there must have been something else at work, such as fading daylight and players told to swing early. He couldn't have averaged more than 2 pitches per batter, which is pretty insane by the standards of any era.
August 27th, 2010 at 7:31 pm
I understand Andy:
You kinda think a game like the Barrett game would happen on the last day of the season when both teams completely out of it.
I know there were some games at the time that were pretty short time wise near the end of the season.
I know it was War time but every team had a couple of good players. Can't say for sure why he only needed 58 pitches.
Re: Fading daylight: Wikipedia says it was a Night game.
The top player on your list Greg Maddox had 43 pitches thru 5 innings.
If he could have gone the full 9 and threw 1 pitch to the remaining 12 batters he would have beaten Barret's record of 58 by 4 pitchers.