Four Strikeouts in One Inning
It’s one of the most interesting feats in sports. And the most confusing? Three strikeouts in one inning is definitely respectable, even a pitcher’s dream, but FOUR in one inning? Yes, it happens, and more often than you’d think.
Just how is this feat achievable? A batter with two strikes on him takes a swing at strike three; however, the catcher does not field the ball cleanly, and instead of tagging the runner out, the runner reaches. The strikeout is recorded, but not the out.
It takes a special pitcher to shake off the embarrassment of allowing a runner you just struck out to get on base and strikeout the next batter. Ed Crane did it first. Walter Johnson did it first in the American League. Bob Gibson, Phil Niekro, Don Drysdale, and Kerry Wood did too. Here are the men who defied the odds, and struckout four men in one single inning.
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In the American League, the following pitchers struck out all four (4) batters in consecutive order: Mike Cuellar, Mike Paxton, Bobby Witt, Kevin Appier, Wilson Alvarez, Chuck Finley and Kazuhiro Sasaki.
In the National League, the following pitchers struck out all four (4) batters in consecutive order: Ed Crane, Hooks Wiltse, Jim Davis, Pete Richert, Don Drysdale, Bill Bonham, Kirt Ojala, Steve Kline and Octavio Dotel.
On September 30, 1885, Bobby Mathews became the first and only pitcher in the American Association to accomplish this unique feat. During the 1908 World Series, Orval Overall became the first and only pitcher to accomplish the feat in a Fall Classic.
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