July 6, 2015

For First Time In 17,867 Games, No Putouts By Red Sox First Baseman

From ESPN (thanks to Fenway Fanatics for pointing it out):

Houston's 27 outs:
1st:  K    K   F8
2nd:  K  3-1   2U
3rd:  K   L8   P6
4th:  K   F7   P6
5th:  K    K    K
6th:  K  2-6   F9
7th:  K   L6    K
8th:  K   F8   F8
9th: F7    K    K
Ortiz did touch the ball once, however, on what was the only groundball out of the day.

(Note: 2U was interference, with the output awarded to the catcher. 2-6 was a caught stealing.)

5 comments:

allan said...

Original title said no putouts at first base, which is not true. One play went 3-1.

Zenslinger said...

Totally bizarre.

Jake of All Trades said...

Also neat from the grid: The first out of every inning was a K except the 9th!

FenFan said...

Thanks for the plug, Allan! I'd be curious how often this has happened in baseball, period. Unfortunately, the Play Index at BB-Ref does not include fielding game finders.

allan said...

I'm curious, too. There have been other games like this, I'm pretty sure, as well as games with no outfield putouts or no infield assists. No handy lists of oddities, though.

There are some fielding feats in this SABR article:
"The Cleveland Indians defeated the New York Yankees on July 4, 1945 in the first game of a doubleheader. Steve Gromek was the Cleveland pitcher who induced the Yankees to hit his pitches into the air. The Tribe outfielders hauled in 15 flies and Jeff Heath, in left, collected eight of them. Four pop-ups were handled by the infielders. Catcher Frankie Hayes caught two foul flies, and Gromek fanned four. Two ground balls, the only ones that New York hit, happened to go to Mickey Rocco at first and they became unassisted putouts. This is the only time in major league history that a team played nine innings without an assist. Two years earlier, August 8, 1943, the St. Louis Browns did not tabulate a single assist in a game with Cleveland but that one only went eight innings."