What is the record for the number of strikeouts in a nine inning span. I was wondering because of the whole Randy Johnson debacle.
20, twice by Roger Clemens and once by Kerry Woods.
IMHO, Randy Johnson should share the record but the Elias Sports Bureau doesn’t see it that way.
If I’m interpreting the OP correctly, the number could be higher than 20. It’s any 9 inning span. It doesn’t have to be 9 innings in the same game. It’s possible Tom Seaver could have had more than 20 in a 9 inning span. When he struck out 19 in a game, he whiffed the last 10 in a row. If he started his next game well, he might have gotten over 20.
Colibri, I’m not sure that your answer is correct. It’s certainly accurate as to a nine inning GAME, but whether 20 Ks is the most in a consecutive nine innings pitched span is a different question.
For example, I believe that most hitless innings (or innings without a batter reaching base) belongs to a reliever, over a span of several games.
Unfortunately, I don’t know the answer myself.
As of my 1984 record book, the record for consecutive hitless innings belonged to Cy Young with 24. As I recall, it went something like this: April 25, 1904, he finished a game he had started with three hitless innings. A few days later he throws six hitless in relief. May 4, he throws a nine-inning perfect game. And May 11 he holds 'em hitless through six.
– Beruang
Sorry BobT and DRY, I guess I did misread the intent of the OP.
It could be Pedro Martinez, who recorded strikeouts in 32 consecutive innings in 1999. But the nine-inning stat looks like it might be a bit to get at.
The single-game record is 21 in 16 innings by Tom Cheney.
I have a vague recollection (and I could well be mistaken, by the way), that the record above was broken in the late 80s or 90s, and that a reliever (John Franco?) holds it.
As a sidelight, Elias did decide to let Johnson share the record for strikeouts in a game. Sweeties, they are.
Hmm, I could reasonably translate this queary as asking
“What is the record for the most strikeouts recorded in a game with 9 full innings, top and bottom.” This would include both teams and all relievers. I suppose you’d have to restrict that to 1 game. So what’s that?
Bear in mind I realize what the OP meant.
As per the consecutive hitless innings record, didn’t Gregg Maddux recently set that record?
As noted, my record book is old (1984), and I haven’t really followed the sport since the last strike, so it is entirely possible that Franco or Maddux did something and I just didn’t notice. My apologies.
And speaking of being clueless… I also have no idea what the “Randy Johnson debacle” mentioned in the OP is. Care to enlighten a former fan? Thanks.
– Beruang
I imagine the OP was referring to the Elias Sports’ Bureau’s initial decision not to give Johnson a share of the nine-inning record (instead, giving him the second place for an extra-inning game), but Snooooopy says they reversed that. Got a link, Snoop?
Still no luck in searching out which pitcher has struck out the most batters in nine consecutive innings pitched, which is how I interpret the OP. All I have found is that Pedro Martinez and Luis Tiant share the AL record for the number of strikeouts in two consecutive games, 32. The NL record must be greater. But of course the record could belong to some reliever who pitched over more games.
Here’s a link for an item in the Washington Post about the Elias Sports Bureau change of heart. I heard (no cite) that they would put an asterisk next to Johnson’s record.
Beruang, the “debacle” was that Johnson struck out 20 batters in 9 innings, but the game went 11 innings. (Johnson left after the 9th.) Since the record was 20 strikeouts in a 9 inning game, there was initially some question about whether to give Johnson a share of the record.