Shutout (baseball)
The ultimate single achievement among pitchers is a perfect game, which has been accomplished 24 times in over 135 years, most recently by Domingo Germán of the New York Yankees on June 28, 2023.
Until a rule change implemented by MLB in 2020, a perfect game was previously also, by definition, counted as a shutout.
[2] A no-hitter completed by one pitcher is also a shutout unless the opposing team manages to score through a series of errors, base on balls, catcher's interferences, dropped third strikes, or hit batsmen.
[1] To achieve a shutout, a pitcher must pitch a complete game without allowing the other team to score a run.
Jim Creighton of the Excelsior of Brooklyn club is widely regarded to have thrown the first official shutout in history on November 8, 1860.
Bradley's 16 shutouts in one year were almost half the total number he pitched in his nine-year career as a pitcher.
[9] In 1968 for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Don Drysdale pitched a Major League record six consecutive shutouts on his way to a total of eight.
[10] That scoreless streak would later be broken by Dodgers pitcher Orel Hershiser in 1988, who pitched one more out than Drysdale to record 59 consecutive shutout innings.
[11] Ed Reulbach of the Chicago Cubs is the only pitcher in Major League Baseball history to have pitched two shutouts on the same day.
An instance of this occurred on June 23, 1917, when Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox walked the first batter of the Washington Senators, Ray Morgan, in the bottom of the first inning.
Ruth's replacement, Ernie Shore, proceeded to finish the game without allowing the Senators to score.
[17] In this case, it is possible for a pitcher to complete only five innings pitched and still be credited with a complete-game shutout if the other team fails to score by the time the game is ended.
On June 3, 1995, Pedro Martínez of the Montreal Expos had a perfect game through nine innings against the San Diego Padres.
In the bottom of the same inning, Martínez gave up a leadoff double to Bip Roberts to break up the perfect game and no-hitter.
[19] Arguably the most famous extra inning shutout was recorded by Jack Morris in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series.
The longest complete-game shutout is 18 innings pitched by a single pitcher, which has occurred four times in Major League history: John Montgomery Ward (1882), Ed Summers (1909), Walter Johnson (1918), and Carl Hubbell (1933).
[12] In the majority of cases, a no-hitter is also recorded as a shutout if it is performed by a single pitcher pitching a complete game.
If the opposing team manages to score through a series of errors, sacrifice flies, hit batsman, or base on balls, the no-hitter remains intact while the shutout is lost.
While the Tigers recorded no hits during this game and still won, the Orioles used more than one pitcher (Steve Barber and Stu Miller), therefore eliminating an individual shutout opportunity.
If the starting pitcher is on the home team, he will have a chance to pitch in the top of the ninth inning—a situation that occurred with Ken Johnson and later the combined efforts of Barber and Miller.
Only five teams in Major League Baseball history have gone an entire season without recording a single shutout victory.
In 1898, three teams—the Brooklyn Bridegrooms, St. Louis Browns, and Washington Senators—failed to defeat a team all season without allowing a run.
[26] The largest margin of victory in a "shutout" game is held by the Providence Grays, who defeated the Philadelphia Quakers 28–0 on August 21, 1883.
The largest shutout margin of victory in recent times was 22–0 when the Cleveland Indians defeated the New York Yankees on August 31, 2004.
Walter Johnson, Pete Alexander, and Cy Young each hold the record for having led the league in shutouts on seven occasions.
