In baseball, a scoreless innings streak is the number of consecutive official innings in which a pitcher appears and allows no runs. Such a streak will end when the pitcher allows a run, earned or unearned. Since 1998, the Official Baseball Rules state that a pitcher does not get credit for any outs recorded during an inning in which he is charged with an earned or unearned run.[1]
Orel Hershiser holds the Major League Baseball record of 59 consecutive scoreless innings which began on August 20, 1988 and ended on September 28, 1989, breaking Don Drysdale's record of 58 consecutive scoreless innings in 1968, the "Year of the Pitcher."[2] Drysdale and Hershiser are the only pitchers to record a 50-inning streak in the live ball era; Walter Johnson and Jack Coombs both also recorded 50 consecutive scoreless innings, with Johnson's 55-inning streak being the MLB record for 55 years and still being the American League record and Coombs' 53-inning streak being the record before that.[3]
Mariano Rivera holds the postseason record for consecutive scoreless innings, with . The second-longest postseason streak was pitched by Whitey Ford, whose 33 consecutive scoreless innings is a World Series record; Ford broke Babe Ruth's 43-year-old record of 29 scoreless innings. Christy Mathewson holds the National League record with 28 consecutive scoreless innings in the postseason.[4]
The following is a list of Major League pitchers with at least 40 consecutive scoreless innings pitched. Only Walter Johnson and Luis Tiant have multiple streaks of at least 40 scoreless innings, with two each.
| Player | Team | Starting date | Ending date | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Los Angeles Dodgers | 59 | |||
| 2 | Los Angeles Dodgers | 58 | |||
| 3 | Washington Senators | ||||
| 4 | Philadelphia Athletics | 53 | |||
| 5 | St. Louis Cardinals | 47 | |||
| 6 | Los Angeles Dodgers | ||||
| 7 | New York Giants | ||||
| 8 | Boston Americans | 45 | |||
| Chicago White Sox | |||||
| New York Giants | |||||
| 11 | Arizona Diamondbacks | ||||
| 12 | Chicago Cubs | 44 | |||
| 13 | Philadelphia Athletics | ||||
| 14 | Boston Red Sox | 42 | |||
| Arizona Diamondbacks | |||||
| 16 | Pittsburgh Pirates | 41 | |||
| Philadelphia Phillies | |||||
| Boston Braves | |||||
| Chicago White Sox | |||||
| Cleveland Indians | |||||
| Los Angeles Dodgers | |||||
| 22 | Washington Senators | 40 | |||
| San Francisco Giants | |||||
| Boston Red Sox |
The following is a list of pitchers with at least 20 consecutive postseason scoreless innings. Mariano Rivera holds the postseason record, and Whitey Ford holds the World Series record.[5]
| Player | Team(s) | Year(s) | Starting date | Ending date | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York Yankees | 1998–2000 | ||||
| 2 | New York Yankees | 33 | 1960–1962 | |||
| 3 | Boston Red Sox | 29 | 1916, 1918 | |||
| 4 | New York Giants | 28 | 1905, 1911 | |||
| 5 | Boston Red Sox | 26 | 2005, 2007–09 | |||
| 6 | San Francisco Giants | 24 | 2014, 2016 | |||
| 7 | San Francisco Giants | 2010, 2012, 2014 | ||||
| Baltimore Orioles New York Yankees Cleveland Indians | 2014–2016 | |||||
| 9 | Los Angeles Dodgers | 22 | 1965–1966 | |||
| 10 | St. Louis Cardinals | 1985, 1987 | ||||
| St. Louis Cardinals | 2012–2013 |