Monday, June 1, 2009

Highest Combined Game Scores, Dual No-Decisions

I've talked about game scores a couple times in the past. For a refresher on how they're figured, click here to see a list of the lowest game scores in a pitching win. On Memorial Day, Yovani Gallardo and Chris Carpenter squared off with dual eight-inning two-hitters. The Brewers wound up winning 1-0 in ten innings, leaving both starters with no-decisions for their efforts.

Carpenter wound up with a game score of 88 while Gallardo came in at 80. In the Brew Crew Ball game thread for the game, a question was asked about the highest combined game score for a game in which both starters wound up with no-decisions. I think it makes for an interesting list.

Highest Combined Game Scores, Dual No-Decisions
Since 1954
  1. 226 - October 2, 1965 - Chris Short (114) at Rob Gardner (112)
  2. 207 - September 24, 1971 - Ken Forsch (98) at Clay Kirby (109)
  3. 203 - June 6, 1964 - Jim Bouton (87) at Dean Chance (116)
  4. 203 - July 9, 1971 - Rudy May (103) at Vida Blue (100)
  5. 199 - September 30, 1964 - Bob Veale (97) at Jim Maloney (102)
  6. 193 - September 1, 1967 - Gaylord Perry (112) at Mel Queen (81)
  7. 193 - August 27, 1976 - Catfish Hunter (89) at Frank Tanana (104)
  8. 190 - May 1, 1974 - Tom Seaver (106) at Andy Messersmith (84)
  9. 189 - May 21, 1957 - Jim Bunning (92) at Ray Moore (97)
  10. 189 - July 27, 1966 - Jim Bunning (91) at Sandy Koufax (98)
  11. 189 - August 26, 1968 - Jim Perry (91) at Frank Bertaina (98)
Obviously this list is fueled by starting pitchers going deep into games before the advent of pitch counts. The highest combined score in the past 10 years was 180, achieved by Kevin Millwood (96) and Darren Oliver (84) on August 28, 1999. Here are the scores of other games since 1999 that saw a combined score of at least 168: 174, 173, 169, 168.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting that the two pitchers involved in the highest game score, Short and Gardner, wound up pitching for the Brewers.

Anonymous said...

All of the super high scores were by pitchers who pitched far more than 9 innings. Pitchers don't do that anymore. I would be interested in a listing of the most innings pitched by any pitcher since, say, 1980.

Theron Schultz said...

Yeah, that's one of the reasons game score breaks down the further back you go in baseball history.

The last time a pitcher went 11 innings was 1990. A pitcher has gone past 9 innings only five times (Roy Halladay twice, Aaron Harang, Mark Mulder, and Bartolo Colon) since 2000.

Pitchers have to rely more on strikeouts to drive up game scores these days.

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