One of baseball’s great streaks ends in the rain
Justin Verlander‘s streak of consecutive starts of at least 6 innings came to an end last night as the Boston Red Sox defeated the Tigers, 4-1, in a game halted by rain at Fenway. The Tigers had the bases loaded with two out in the top of the 6th when the rain halted play and Verlander’s streak . Verlander, who had gone at least six innings in his previous 63 starts, gave up two hits through three innings before struggling as the rain became heavier in the 4th.
“Kind of a weird way for (the streak) to come to an end,” he said. “I get a five-inning complete game but I don’t go six innings.”
In case you are curious…
On July 1, 1941, Joe DiMaggio, in the second game of a doubleheader against the Red Sox, went 1-for-3 to tie Wee Willie Keeler’s 43-year record of 44 games with a line drive single.
“Here again, I was lucky,” writes DiMaggio in his autobiography, “as it was not only the only hit I got in the game but the game was called at the end of five innings.”
Once again, here are the nine longest streaks by a pitcher of consecutive starts of 6+ innings.
Rk | Strk Start | End | Games | W | L | CG | SHO | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | Tm | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Bob Gibson | 1967-09-12 | 1970-05-02 | 78 | 46 | 24 | 58 | 17 | 687.2 | 503 | 154 | 132 | 176 | 606 | 1.73 | STL |
2 | Steve Carlton | 1979-09-13 | 1982-04-13 | 69 | 41 | 15 | 24 | 5 | 545.0 | 435 | 169 | 151 | 170 | 517 | 2.49 | PHI |
3 | Justin Verlander | 2010-08-22 | 2012-07-26 | 63 | 40 | 12 | 11 | 3 | 468.2 | 335 | 144 | 128 | 102 | 463 | 2.46 | DET |
4 | Catfish Hunter | 1975-04-23 | 1976-08-04 | 61 | 35 | 22 | 44 | 9 | 524.0 | 405 | 177 | 160 | 126 | 285 | 2.75 | NYY |
5 | Walter Johnson | 1918-04-15 | 1919-09-16 | 58 | 38 | 19 | 56 | 15 | 566.0 | 439 | 131 | 86 | 111 | 283 | 1.37 | WSH |
6 | Bob Gibson | 1965-04-17 | 1966-07-02 | 54 | 31 | 20 | 33 | 9 | 450.0 | 343 | 151 | 133 | 131 | 410 | 2.66 | STL |
7 | Dazzy Vance | 1926-08-26 | 1928-07-09 | 54 | 28 | 24 | 42 | 4 | 459.0 | 408 | 163 | 137 | 116 | 318 | 2.69 | BRO |
8 | Bob Gibson | 1972-05-05 | 1973-07-30 | 53 | 30 | 18 | 35 | 5 | 442.1 | 355 | 137 | 121 | 131 | 333 | 2.46 | STL |
9 | Mark Buehrle | 2004-05-11 | 2005-07-26 | 49 | 26 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 357.2 | 355 | 153 | 132 | 66 | 228 | 3.32 | CHW |
Here are the current active longest streaks of 6+ innings pitched by a starter
Rk | Strk Start | End ▾ | Games | W | L | CG | IP | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Kyle Lohse | 2012-06-04 | 2012-07-31 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 75.1 | 2.51 |
2 | Ryan Vogelsong | 2011-09-26 | 2012-07-29 | 20 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 136.2 | 2.11 |
3 | Jordan Zimmermann | 2012-04-08 | 2012-07-28 | 21 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 134.1 | 2.28 |
4 | Joe Blanton | 2012-06-03 | 2012-07-28 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 71.0 | 4.18 |
5 | Ben Sheets | 2010-05-08 | 2012-07-27 | 17 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 107.0 | 3.11 |
6 | Jonathon Niese | 2012-06-03 | 2012-07-27 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 68.1 | 3.29 |