A pitcher comes into a baseball game in the first inning, he strikes out 27 straight batters all the way through 9 innings, not a single hit, run, walk, error, interference, or hit-by-pitch was recorded. There were no recording errors. His ERA (earned run average) and WHIP (walks/hits per inning pitched) were both 0.00, his team DID NOT forfeit, yet his team lost the game, why?
I just came across this problem, so these answers have already been
posted, with the fourth answer not really given correctly. There are at
least four essentially different answers.
1. The pitcher comes into the game in the first inning after the other
team has already scored. A similar thing happened back in the 1910s,
when Babe Ruth (yes, that Babe Ruth), pitching for the Red Sox, walked
the first batter, and was thrown out of the game for arguing the call.
Ernie Shore came in as a relief pitcher. The runner was caught
stealing, and Shore retired the next 26 batters, for a "perfect game".
2. The game goes into extra innings, and a relief pitcher gives up one
or more runs. A similar thing happened in the 1950s, when Harvey Haddix
pitched a perfect game for the Pirates for 12 innings, but his team
didn't score either. In the 13th Haddix gave up a run and lost the game.
3. On one of the strikeouts, the batter reaches first on a passed ball,
and he advances to second, third and home on passed balls as well.
(This almost happened with Tim Wakefield pitching for the Red Sox in
extra innings of the 5th game of the 2004 American League Championship
Series ... the runner got as far as third base on a strikeout and three
passed balls.) In this case the run is unearned, so the pitcher's ERA
is still 0.00. Actually it could still be unearned even if some (but
not all) of the bases advanced were by wild pitch or stolen base. If
all the bases advanced were by wild pitch or stolen base, the run would
be earned.
4. The pitcher is moved into the field briefly (say right field) while
a relief pitcher faces one batter. I still have the box score for a
game in the 1950s in which Benny Daniels of the Washington Senators was
temporarily moved to right field for one batter: "Daniels p-rf-p". The
batter hits a home run, and the starting pitcher returns to the mound
and continues his amazing strikeout run. (I don't quite know why the
manager would take him out, but this is, after all, just a problem.)
The earlier posted solution has the pitcher leaving the game for an
injury, but in that case he may not return to the game.
There is almost a fifth answer, but it doesn't quite fit with the
problem statement. Similar to solution 3, a batter reaches base on a
strikeout plus passed ball (or wild pitch). Even though there is no out
recorded, it is still called a "strikeout". Nothing happens with that
batter/runner, but with two out in the ninth inning (after 27
strikeouts, but only 26 outs), the pitcher leaves the game, and the
reliever gives up a run in the ninth inning, as in solution 2. The
doesn't quite work because the problem says that the pitcher retired
batters "all the way through nine innings", and this way it would be
only 8 2/3 innings.
Whew!
Four possible answers
