Three Pitch Innings

Pitch counts. A relatively modern baseball "invention" designed specifically to protect the pitcher. 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.

IMPORTANT NOTES: The list below is far from being comprehensive. As mentioned above, pitch counts are not officially recorded so each of these instances has been found because it was mentioned in the article (sources include Baseball Digest, the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune) accompanying the box score. Current sites do record pitch counts and fans who see an instance where this list should be expanded should contact us as soon as it happens.

A line appears in each list that divides the Internet era from the non-Internet era. That line shows where box scores & pitch counts began appearing online in a near live format making it very easy to determine instances where three pitch innings took place.

"The first time I faced him (Walter Johnson), I watched him take that easy windup — and then something went past me that made me flinch. I hardly saw the pitch, but I heard it... Every one of us knew we'd met the most powerful arm ever turned loose in a ballpark." - Ty Cobb

3 Pitch Inning

American League

Pitcher Name (Quantity)

Historical Dates

Team / Roster Inning

Addie Joss (1)

08-22-1903

Cleveland

2nd

Hippo Vaughn (1)

04-14-1910

New York

10th

Walter Johnson (1)

06-27-1911

Washington

6th

Walter Johnson (2)

05-26-1913

Washington

6th

Red Faber (1)

05-12-1915

Chicago

3rd

Red Faber (2)

05-12-1915

Chicago

5th

Fritz Coumbe (1)

08-19-1915

Cleveland

6th

Walter Johnson (3)

08-29-1915

Washington

4th

Walter Johnson (4)

06-01-1917

Washington

2nd

Ed Klepfer (1)

06-27-1917

Cleveland

1st

Molly Craft (1)

09-21-1917

Washington

6th

Hooks Dauss (1)

06-03-1919

Detroit

6th

Sam Jones (1)

08-11-1923

New York

6th

Rube Walberg (1)

10-14-1929

Philadelphia

7th

Johnny Allen (1)

06-04-1937

Cleveland

2nd

Tiny Bonham (1)

10-06-1941

New York

7th

Sonny Siebert (1)

05-11-1969

Boston

2nd

Jerry Terrell (1)

08-20-1979

Kansas City

9th

Jimmy Key (1)

07-21-1987

Toronto

2nd

Floyd Bannister (1)

05-15-1989

Kansas City

2nd

Tony Fossas (1)

04-09-1990

Milwaukee

6th

Scott Sanderson (1)

08-12-1992

New York

5th

Jack McDowell (1)

09-11-1995

New York

9th

Pitcher Name (Quantity)

Modern Dates

Team / Roster Inning

Bob Wolcott (1)

04-20-1997

Seattle

5th

Roger Pavlik (1)

04-29-1997

Texas

7th

Aaron Small (1)

06-12-1997

Oakland

8th

Charles Nagy (1)

07-05-1997

Cleveland

6th

Nelson Cruz (1)

08-27-1997

Chicago

5th

Rick Helling (1)

05-08-1998

Texas

4th

Jim Mecir (1)

05-17-1998

Tampa Bay

8th

Tim Crabtree (1)

06-03-1998

Texas

7th

Bret Saberhagen (1)

06-04-1998

Boston

4th

Brad Radke (1)

06-09-1998

Minnesota

3rd

Bret Saberhagen (2)

07-01-1998

Boston

4th

David Wells (1)

08-01-1998

New York

9th

Rolando Arrojo (1)

08-09-1998

Tampa Bay

7th

Mike Sirotka (1)

09-20-1998

Chicago

7th

Tim Wakefield (1)

04-26-1999

Boston

1st

Butch Henry (1)

04-29-1999

Seattle

4th

Jaime Navarro (1)

05-28-1999

Chicago

5th

Mike Fetters (1)

09-05-1999

Baltimore

7th

Allen Watson (1)

09-26-1999

New York

9th

Jay Witasick (1)

06-28-2000

Kansas City

2nd

Gil Heredia (1)

06-29-2000

Oakland

9th

Travis Harper (1)

09-19-2000

Tampa Bay

4th

Kip Wells (1)

09-22-2000

Chicago

3rd

Mike Mussina (1) [1 Pitch]

09-30-2000

Baltimore

7th

B.J. Ryan (1) [2 Pitches]

Ramiro Mendoza (1)

07-16-2001

New York

9th

Mariano Rivera (1)

10-21-2001

New York

9th

Mike Maroth (1)

09-22-2002

Detroit

7th

Tim Hudson (1)

09-25-2002

Oakland

1st

Mariano Rivera (2)

06-15-2003

New York

9th

Travis Harper (2)

09-21-2003

Tampa Bay

7th

John Parrish (1)

09-27-2003

Baltimore

6th

Jarrod Washburn (1)

04-29-2004

Anaheim

2nd

Jimmy Gobble (1)

05-08-2004

Kansas City

4th

Esteban Yan (1)

05-14-2004

Detroit

9th

Juan Dominguez (1)

06-11-2004

Texas

2nd

Mike Maroth (2)

09-10-2004

Detroit

2nd

Roy Halladay (1)

10-02-2004

Toronto

4th

Tim Wakefield (2)

05-15-2005

Boston

7th

Carlos Silva (1)

05-20-2005

Minnesota

6th

Bob Wickman (1)

06-28-2005

Cleveland

9th

Kirk Saarloos (1)

08-24-2005

Oakland

6th

C.C. Sabathia (1)

09-29-2005

Cleveland

5th

Bob Wickman (2)

10-02-2005

Cleveland

9th

Carlos Silva (2)

06-10-2006

Minnesota

4th

Julian Tavarez (1)

09-04-2006

Boston

6th

Esteban Loaiza (2)

08-27-2007

Oakland

6th

Nick Blackburn (1)

05-27-2008

Minnesota

2nd

Pitcher Name (Quantity)

Date / Box

Team / Roster Inning
3 Pitch Inning

National League

Pitcher Name (Quantity)

Date / Box

Team / Roster Inning

Duke Esper (1)

06-05-1894

Washington

2nd

George Hodson (1)

05-22-1895

Boston

7th

Jack Taylor (1)

07-13-1895

Philadelphia

8th

Vic Willis (1)

08-07-1899

Boston

2nd

Mordecai Brown (1)

10-08-1908

Chicago

9th

Red Ames (1)

04-13-1912

New York

4th

Christy Mathewson (1)

10-09-1912

New York

11th

Christy Mathewson (2)

10-16-1912

New York

5th

Slim Sallee (1)

09-21-1919

Cincinnati

9th

Joe Oeschger (1)

05-01-1920

Boston

7th

Joe Niekro (1)

05-25-1969

Chicago

8th

Burt Hooton (1)

06-25-1972

Chicago

4th

Andy Ashby (1)

10-06-1991

Philadelphia

4th

Bruce Hurst (1)

07-26-1992

San Diego

8th

Al Leiter (1)

05-11-1996

Florida

8th

Pitcher Name (Quantity)

Modern Dates

Team / Roster Inning

Omar Daal (1)

04-16-1997

Montreal

8th

Kent Bottenfield (1)

06-20-1997

Chicago

5th

Jim Bullinger (1)

07-03-1997

Montreal

3rd

Brian Bohanon (1)

09-26-1997

New York

3rd

Rod Beck (1)

09-26-1997

San Francisco

9th

Kevin Tapani (1)

04-10-1998

Chicago

9th

Jeff Suppan (1)

04-25-1998

Arizona

3rd

Esteban Loaiza (1)

04-25-1998

Pittsburgh

2nd

Brian Meadows (1)

05-05-1998

Florida

6th

Chan Ho Park (1)

05-24-1998

Los Angeles

1st

Ismael Valdes (1)

05-15-1998

Los Angeles

7th

Brian Anderson (1)

07-12-1998

Arizona

5th

Steve Woodard (1)

07-18-1998

Milwaukee

5th

John Thomson (1)

08-11-1998

Colorado

7th

Matt Karchner (1)

08-16-1998

Chicago

9th

Gregg Olson (1)

08-18-1998

Arizona

9th

Rafael Roque (1)

09-02-1998

Milwaukee

4th

Manny Aybar (1)

09-15-1998

St. Louis

5th

Andy Ashby (1)

09-18-1998

San Diego

6th

Pete Harnisch (1)

09-26-1998

Cincinnati

5th

Kent Bottenfield (1)

04-07-1999

St. Louis

5th

Carlos Reyes (1)

04-08-1999

San Diego

6th

Chris Brock (1)

04-15-1999

San Francisco

2nd

Denny Neagle (1)

05-08-1999

Cincinnati

4th

Mike Hampton (1)

05-25-1999

Houston

8th

Odalis Perez (1)

05-28-1999

Atlanta

4th

Mike DeJean (1)

06-02-1999

Colorado

8th

Braden Looper (1)

06-19-1999

Florida

6th

J.D. Smart (1)

06-23-1999

Montreal

8th

Kirk Reuter (1)

06-29-1999

San Francisco

6th

Greg Maddux (1)

07-02-1999

Atlanta

6th

Jose Lima (1)

07-27-1999

Houston

7th

Hideo Nomo (1)

08-18-1999

Milwaukee

3rd

Pete Harnisch (1)

08-24-1999

Cincinnati

4th

Chris Holt (1)

08-27-1999

Houston

1st

Terry Adams (1)

09-16-1999

Chicago

8th

Steve Kline (1)

09-19-1999

Montreal

8th

Andrew Lorraine (1)

04-07-2000

Chicago

6th

Randy Johnson (1)

04-14-2000

Arizona

5th

Mike James (1)

04-20-2000

St. Louis

9th

Randy Johnson (2)

04-20-2000

Arizona

7th

Greg Maddux (2)

05-03-2000

Atlanta

2nd

Juan Acevedo (1)

05-16-2000

Milwaukee

14th

Rick Aguilera (1)

06-21-2000

Chicago

9th

Mike DeJean (2)

06-22-2000

Colorado

8th

Masato Yoshii (1)

07-25-2000

Colorado

6th

Rob Bell (1)

08-27-2000

Cincinnati

3rd

Felipe Lira (1)

09-18-2000

Montreal

4th

Pete Harnisch (2)

04-07-2001

Cincinnati

4th

Rick Reed (1)

04-11-2001

New York

8th

Jason Middlebrook (1)

05-11-2002

San Diego

5th

Chad Zerbe (1)

06-02-2002

San Francisco

8th

Kazuhisa Ishii (1)

06-08-2002

Los Angeles

6th

Graeme Lloyd (1)

08-19-2002

Florida

9th

Bronson Arroyo (1)

08-23-2002

Pittsburgh

5th

Mike DeJean (3)

04-19-2003

Milwaukee

10th

Jeff D'Amico (1)

05-28-2003

Pittsburgh

3rd

Wayne Franklin (1)

06-26-2003

Milwaukee

6th

Steve Trachsel (1)

06-27-2004

New York

5th

Randy Wolf (1)

08-01-2004

Philadelphia

1st

LaTroy Hawkins (1)

05-25-2005

Chicago

9th

John Smoltz (1)

07-07-2005

Atlanta

7th

Scott Erickson (1)

07-15-2005

Los Angeles

8th

Woody Williams (1)

04-11-2006

San Diego

5th

Taylor Buchholz (1)

05-21-2006

Houston

9th

Ramon Ortiz (1)

07-30-2006

Washington

5th

Jeff Suppan (1)

04-04-2007

Milwaukee

5th

Sergio Mitre (1)

05-20-2007 *

Florida

7th

Rodrigo Lopez (1)

06-15-2007 *

Colorado

5th

Kyle Lohse (1)

06-23-2007 *

Cincinnati

2nd

Jeff Francis (1)

09-23-2007

Colorado

4th

Matt Chico (1)

04-11-2008

Washington

7th

Doug Brocail (1)

04-30-2008

Houston

2nd

Randy Wolf (2)

05-07-2008

San Diego

6th

Jorge de la Rosa (1)

08-21-2008

Colorado

6th

Kevin Correia (1)

06-06-2009

San Diego

5th

3 Pitch Inning | * = Interleague Game



The following three pitch innings all took place during a World Series game: Christy Mathewson (Game 2 & Game 8 of the 1912 World Series), Rube Walberg (Game 5 of the 1929 World Series), Tiny Bonham (Game 5 of the 1941 World Series).

One of the most interesting three pitch instances took place on August 20, 1979, when six-year veteran infielder Jerry Terrell took the mound in the ninth inning for his first career pitching appearance and joined the 3 pitch inning club!

Did you know that the Al Leiter 3 pitch inning in the eighth inning on May 11, 1996, took place during his no hit contest?