A shutout refers to the number of runs given up by the pitcher while a no-hitter refers to the number of hits given up by the pitcher. A shutout is when a pitcher throws a complete game and gives up zero runs while a no-hitter is when a pitcher throws a complete game and gives up no hits.
The all-time record for the greatest shutout score in major league history is 28-0. Providence of the National League, with the great Hoss Radboum pitching, defeated Philadelphia 28-0 on August 21, 1883. There were 2 games in the pre-1900 National League with scores of 24-0 and another with a 20-0 score.
In 2019, 268 games ended in a shutout, or roughly 11% of all games. Since Major League Baseball expanded to 30 teams in 1998, there have been anywhere from 193 to 353 shutouts per season (excluding 2020), or anywhere from 7.9% to 14.5% of all games ended in a shutout.
A no-hitter occurs when the pitcher does not allow any hitter to reach base via a base hit. However, during a no-hitter, there can be walks, errors, and hit by pitches.
A strikeout occurs when a pitcher throws any combination of three swinging or looking strikes to a hitter. (A foul ball counts as a strike, but it cannot be the third and final strike of the at-bat. A foul tip, which is caught by the catcher, is considered a third strike.)
Any no-hitter that goes nine innings but is forced to extra innings can only remain a no-hitter if no hits are given up in the extra frames. A perfect game is a no-hitter in which no runner is allowed to reach base, whether by hit, base-on-balls, hit-by-pitch or error.
In a no-hitter, the batting team is not allowed to make a safe hit in the entire game by the pitcher. By contrast, a perfect game is achieved when the pitcher prevents the batters from making any hits, as well as preventing them from scoring any runs. This is essentially a clean 27 up and 27 down.
Most runs scored in a game in MLB history
720 with runners in scoring position. The Blue Jays cleared the 27-run mark in the ninth inning with Red Sox infielder Yolmer Sanchez on the mound. Although 28 runs allowed is a club record, 23 runs isn’t the biggest loss. That’s still the 27-3 defeat in 1923 to Cleveland.
In the case of a nine-inning game, if your team (or opponent) is winning by 10 runs after seven innings (or after the top of the sixth if you are the home team) the game ends. The Mercy Rule is in play after five innings (or after the top of the fourth if you are the home team) if your team is ahead by ten runs.
In the modern MLB era, the record is 17 runs set by the Boston Red Sox in 1953 when they did it against the Detroit Tigers.
A save (abbreviated SV or S) is a statistic awarded to a relief pitcher, often called a closer, who enters the game under certain conditions and maintains his team’s lead until the end of the game. The save rule was first adopted for the 1969 season and amended for the 1974 and 1975 seasons.
Pete Alexander (along with George Bradley) holds the single-season shutout record with 16. His career total of 90 is ranked second all-time to Walter Johnson’s 110 shutouts.
No, a pitcher cannot lose a 9-inning perfect game. However, if the game goes into extra innings and the perfect game is lost, then the pitcher does not get credit for the perfect game that happened in the first 9 innings. The pitcher must finish the entire game to be awarded a perfect game.
On April 23, 1964, Ken Johnson of the Houston Colt . 45s became the first pitcher to throw a nine-inning no-hitter and lose. In fact, he is still the only individual to throw an official (nine-inning) no-hitter and lose.
No major league player has ever thrown two perfect games, although Jean Faut of the AAGPBL accomplished the feat with perfect games in 1951 and 1953.
The scoring symbol “K” was first used in the scoring of an actual game in 1868. One reason the letter “K” was used because “K” was the prominent letter of the word strike. Another reason the letter “K” is used is that it is made with 3 strokes of the pencil, symbolizing the 3 strikes for the strikeout.
A “K” is used to refer to a strikeout in baseball because the letter “S” was already used to score a sacrifice. So Henry Chadwick, the inventor of the box score, began using the letter “K” in the 1860s because it is the last letter of “struck”, which was the common term for a strikeout at the time.
Outs are generally recorded via a strikeout, a groundout, a popout or a flyout, but MLB’s official rulebook chronicles other ways – including interfering with a fielder – by which an offensive player can be put out.
One such rarity is the immaculate inning. You’ve probably heard of it – an immaculate inning is when a pitcher strikes out all three batters in an inning, on three pitches each. The immaculate inning used to be very rare – there were none from 1929-52. But in 2019, there have been seven.
Rarity. The cycle is about as uncommon as a no-hitter; it has been called “one of the rarest” and “most difficult feats” in baseball.
The “Immaculate Inning”
What is far more impressive is the always elusive “immaculate inning”, occurring when a pitcher strikes out the side needing only nine pitches. The feat has been achieved 19 times since 2000, with Juan Perez being the most recent, doing so as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies last season.
Completely unofficial and no record books have ever been kept. The following pitchers had no problem with their pitch count, at least for one inning, as they started the inning, threw exactly three pitches and recorded three outs.
1-T) Carlos Ruiz: 4
Ruiz played for the Phillies from 2006-16, and caught every no-hitter the team threw in that span.
The perfect game means no hits or walks, no hit batsmen, no fielding errors that allow a player on base, no uncaught third strikes, and no interference. That means a perfect game is as much as a pitcher’s accomplishment as it is the defense to make every play hit to them.
The most recent MLB season completed without a no-hitter was 2005.