There’s plenty to talk about from last night’s Padres/Red Sox game. The Red Sox racked up ten runs in the seventh inning. Former top Tigers prospect Andrew Miller, who was a key piece in their trade for Miguel Cabrera, made his return to the big leagues after a minor league sojourn to fix his mechanics and pitched strongly for Boston. The Red Sox ran their record to 44-28, best in the AL and just a half-game behind the Phillies for best in baseball. What grabbed my eye, though, was something different. Padres’ reliever Ernesto Frieri allowed four of the ten runs the Red Sox scored in that seventh inning, but he never allowed a hit.
How is that possible? Things started innocently enough for Frieri, who entered the game after Adrian Gonzalez doubled to put the Red Sox up 5-3. He got Kevin Youkilis to fly out for the inning’s second out and it looked like he had a good chance of keeping the Padres in the game. He was then asked to intentionally walk David Ortiz, which is where things got messy. After the intentional walk of Ortiz, he unintentionally walked JD Drew to load the bases, then he hit Marco Scutaro and Jason Varitek with pitches. He was pulled after hitting Varitek, and Evan Scribner came in let both Scutaro and Varitek (and others) score, and so Frieri’s final line on the night was 1/3 IP, 0 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 0 K.
How often does this happen? Actually, maybe a bit more regularly than you’d expect. Baseball-Reference’s Play Index gives us 90 examples since 1919 in which a pitcher has allowed at least four runs without giving up a hit. Aroldis Chapman did it earlier this year when he walked four Cardinal hitters in an inning. In fact, Frieri is the third Padre to perform the dubious feat; Bryce Florie gave up five runs in 2/3rds of an inning on April 26, 1995, though an error made sure that none of the runs he allowed were earned. Scott Sanders allwed four runs and no hits in 2/3 of an inning on June 25, 1996, though again an error tabbed one of the runs as unearned.
Of course, most of the games on the list look like Frieri’s: a pitcher comes into a game, doesn’t have much control, gets yanked, and someone else gives up his runs. Of the 90 games on the list, just 25 of them include pitchers that finished an inning. No one gets to complain about bad luck the way Andy Hawkins does, though. Hawkins threw eight no-hit innings for the Yankees against the White Sox in 1990, but five walks and a slew of errors lead the Yanks to a 4-0 loss and kept Hawkins from finishing his no-hitter.
Also last night: While everything falls apart around the Dodgers, at least they have Clayton Kershaw. He tossed a complete game, 11 strikeout, 2 hit shutout at the Tigers. Jack McKeon didn’t do much to help the Marlins as they dropped their 11th in a row. The Rays piled up seven runs over the seventh and eighth innings to beat the Brewers. If you’re counting at home, the AL took six of yesterday’s 10 interleague matchups. Full results can be found here.
Up ahead: There’s a full slate of games, but the most intriguing may be the non-interleague Roy Halladay/Kyle McClellan Phillies/Cardinals game. There’s also Jeremy Hellickson vs. Zack Greinke, Travis Outman vs. Dillon Gee, a Cubs/White Sox game with Garza and Buehrle, and the Marlins sending Javier Vazquez to the mound in their never-ending quest for a win. Full schedule here.
