A pitcher recording four strikeouts in an inning is relatively rare. It’s happened just 90 times in MLB history (There was also one instance of two pitchers combining for four strikeouts in a single frame.) By contrast, there have been 265 official single-pitcher MLB no-hitters, as well as 12 no-hitter spun by multiple pitchers.
This Trivia Teaser will focus on those four-strikeout innings.
Baseball Roundtable Trivia Teaser
Only three pitchers have recorded multiple four-strikeout innings and only one pitcher has recorded three such frames. Your question: Who was that pitcher? Hints: All three were for American League Teams. The last one on April 16, 2000.
The answer is Chuck Finley.
On May 12, 1999, starting against the Yankees (at New York) for the Angels, Finley’s third inning went: Single to left by Yankees’ LF Shane Spencer; three-pitch strikeout (looking) of 3B Scott Brosius; C Joe Girardi safe on an error; (wild pitch advances both runners); strikeout (swinging) of Yankees’ 2B Chuck Knoblauch on a 2-2 pitch; strikeout (swinging) of SS Derek Jeter on a 3- 2 wild pitch, with Jeter safe at first; strikeout (swinging) of RF Paul O’Neill on a 2-2 pitch. No runs scored, three left on base, two wild pitches, one error. Finley went eight innings, giving up no runs on three and two walks, with eleven strikeouts. He got the win in a 1-0 ball game.
On August 15, 1999, Finley faced off (again for the Angels) against the Tigers in Detroit. In the bottom of the first, he gave up a ground ball single to CF Kimera Bartee, followed by: a swinging strikeout (on a 1-2 wild pitch) of SS Deivi Cruz, Cruz out and Bartee going to second; a swinging strikeout (on a 2-2) pitch of LF Juan Encarnacion; a swinging strikeout on a 1-2 wild pitch to 3B Dean Palmer, with Palmer safe at first and Bartee going to third; a swinging strikeout of Tony Clark on a 1-2 pitch. No rusn scored on a hit and two wild pitches, with two men left on base. Finley went 6 2/3 innings to get the win, giving up two runs on six hits and two walks, with 12 whiffs.
In 1999, Chuck Finley led the American League with 15 wild pitches.
On April 16, 2000, Finley – pitching for the Indians against the Rangers in Cleveland – tossed his third four-whiff inning. It came in the top of the third and went like this: a single by Rangers’ 2B Luis Alicea; a strikeout of 3B Tom Evans (swinging on a 2-2 pitch); a strikeout of SS Royce Clayton (swinging on a 1-2 pitch); a stolen base by Alicea; a strikeout of LF Chad Curtis on a 2-2 pitch, with Curtis reaching on a passed ball and Alicea going to third; a run-scoring single by C Ivan Rodriguez; and a strikeout looking (on a 3-2 pitch) by Rafael Palmeiro. One unearned run scored on two hits and a passed ball. Finley got the win by a 2-1 score, going the full nine innings, giving up five hits, the one unearned run, with four walks and 13 strikeouts.
On April 14, the Blue Jays’ Tom Pannone threw the second “immaculate inning” – nine pitches/three strikeouts – of 2019. For the story and some immaculate inning trivia, click here.
Primary Resources: Baseball-Reference.com; Baseball-Almanac.com
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