What is the fewest number of pitches that a pitcher in a major league baseball game can throw and come away with a complete game?

(A real complete game, not shortened by rain or anything like that)

25 pitches

Our pitcher is pitching the bottom of the innings.  Assume both team's pitchers are in rare form, and up to now there has been no score.

Our pitcher is pitching in the bottom of the 8th inning.  Every inning before this, the batter has popped up and is out after one pitch.  3 pitches = 3 outs, in other words.

Now it is the bottom of the 8th. After the first two batters pop up and are out, the third batter hits it out of the park, scoring the very first run of the game.  The next batter pops up and is out.  So inning 8 equals 4 pitches.

Our team fails to score at the top of the ninth, meaning the bottom of the ninth is not played and we lose.  So 3 pitches per inning in innings 1-7 = 3x7, which is 21 pitches.  The eighth inning has the three outs, plus the one home run, meaning four pitches.  21+4=25

This scenario means that, while they have a great pitcher, the rest of the team sucks eggs and should be traded. :-)

Posted by Lisa on 2004-04-21 12:41:24