The Most Runs Scored On A Small Number Of Hits

Last night, the Braves’ pitchers held the Dodgers to just 4 hits. The Dodgers won the game, however, and by a fairly easy 6-2 score. (It helped that all 4 hits were homers.) This got me to thinking about which teams have scored the most runs on just a few hits.

Most Runs With 0 Hits

In the boxscore era (since 1918), 14 teams have managed to score despite getting 0 hits. A few even managed to score more than 1 run:

It’s cool that all three of these teams managed to win their games, even the two that scored just two runs. (Two

other teams have managed to win 1-0 while being no-hit, bringing the total number of teams to win without a hit to 5.) The high numbers in the walk column should come as no surprise; one consistent trend in this post will be “pitchers with control problems.”

The first game, in particular, deserves more examination. How, exactly, does a team manage to score 4 runs with no hits? After all, as we’ll see below, no team has scored that many runs while being one-hit. And the White Sox only got 5 walks (and no hit-by-pitches) in that game, so it’s not like the Yankees were particularly wild. The answer lies in the “ROE” column: the Yankees made 3 errors, all in the same inning, leading to all 4 runs. Here’s what happened in the bottom of the 8th inning with 2 outs and the score tied 0-0:

• Sammy Sosa
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  reaches on an error by third baseman Mike Blowers
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  .
• Ozzie Guillen
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  walks.
• Lance Johnson
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  walks.
• Robin Ventura
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  reaches on an error by left fielder Jim Leyritz
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  ; Sosa, Guillen, and Johnson all score.
• Ivan Calderon
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  reaches on an error by right fielder Roberto Kelly
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  ; Ventura scores.

All I have to say about that is: poor Andy Hawkins

(the Yankees pitcher). He didn’t help himself by walking two guys, but c’mon. That has to be one of the least-deserved losses of all time.

Less than two years after Hawkins’ tough loss, Matt Young

of the Red Sox lost his own no-hitter to the Indians, thanks to 7 walks, an error, and the speed of Kenny Lofton . In 1967, Steve Barber of the Orioles was even wilder, walking 10 and hitting 2 batters against the Tigers. Amazingly, Barber entered the 9th inning with a 1-0 lead, but he blew it on two walks, a sac bunt, and a wild pitch. After another walk, he was pulled for reliever Stu Miller ; Miller got what should have been an inning-ending forceout, but second baseman Mark Belanger –who would go on to become one of the best-fielding shortstops of all time–dropped the ball, and a run scored.

Most Runs With 1 Hit

Eleven teams have scored 3 runs on 1 hit, but no team has managed 4 runs. Here’s the list:

In the most recent game, Michael Tucker

of the Royals accounted for all 3 runs with a 3-run homer, scoring two runners who had reached on walks. Almost exactly 4 years prior, the Royals scored 3 runs (mostly off A’s reliever Rick Honeycutt ) on this crazy sequence: single, error on the pitcher, sac bunt, wild pitch, wild pitch, sac fly. Ron Darling had a no-hitter until giving up the single (to Keith Miller ) leading off the 8th inning; he was pulled right after, but Honeycutt managed to blow the lead (and the game) without giving up any hits or walks.

You’ll notice that the 1 hit was usually an extra-base hit. Only the aforementioned ’92 Royals, the ’50 Dodgers, and the ’49 Tigers scored 3 runs on just a single. All 3 teams benefitted from errors. Overall, these 3-run/1-hit teams went 5-6, which isn’t too bad of a record considering the circumstances.

Most Runs With 2 Hits

Ten teams have scored 5+ runs on just 2 hits. I guarantee that you’ll be surprised by just how many the top team scored:

You may recall that Ron Darling started one of the games in the 1-hit category when his A’s lost to the Royals in 1992. Almost exactly two years later, he came out on the good side of an even more improbable run-scoring burst. In the 1994 game, his A’s teammates scored 8 runs on just two hits, thanks in large part to 12 walks. Amazingly, both the A’s hits (a Stan Javier

double and a Ruben Sierra homer) came back-to-back in the 1st inning, after which the A’s led 3-1. From then on, the A’s scored 5 runs on no hits. They scored twice in the 3rd inning on 4 walks and a sac fly, then added 3 more in the 7th on 4 walks, an error, and a fielder’s choice.

Oh, and there’s this: Rickey Henderson

led off all 3 of the A’s run-scoring innings with a walk. In the latter two innings, he was picked off or caught stealing but got back safely both times thank to errors. He finished the game with 4 walks, 3 runs, and 2 steals. As Rickey would say, Rickey is the best.

Both the first two games came against Blue Jays pitching. In fact, the two pitchers from the second game–Woody Williams

and Scott Brow –also pitched in the first game (though most of the damage in the first game came against Paul Spoljaric .) All 6 runs in the second game came in the 6th inning. The Orioles got their only two hits that inning, not to mention 5 of their 7 walks. The first two runs scored on bases-loaded walks by Bobby Bonilla and Cal Ripken, Jr. ; the last 4 came on a grand slam by Eddie Murray .

Most Runs With 3 Hits

Four teams have scored 7 runs on 3 hits, but no team has matched the 8 runs that the 1992 A’s managed on just 2 hits. Here are the 4 who came closest:

The formulae for these games are pretty much the same: a bunch of walks grouped together with timely hits, with some steals, errors, wild pitches, and sac flies thrown in for good measure.

Most Runs With 4 Hits

The record-holder for this group scored an amazing 11 runs on just 4 hits–two singles and two doubles.

It’s too bad we don’t have a full play-by-play on that 1925 Browns game. While we don’t know the number of reaches on error, we do know from the boxscore that only 1 of the 11 runs the Browns scored that day was earned. The Red Sox made a grisly 7 errors, including 4 by the pitcher, Buster Ross

. Between those 4 errors and the 8 walks, Buster Ross had a really, really, really bad day.

Also of note is the performance put on by Dodgers pitchers in the 1962 game. They needed 3 pitchers just to get through the first inning; in that inning, they issued 7 walks, and capped it off with a 2-run single. Later in the game, reliever Stan Williams

walked 8 in 5 innings, though he gave up “only” 3 runs. And here’s the worst part: all of this was against the infamous 1962 Mets, who finished 40-120 and were 19-52 coming into the game.

In 1918, Reds pitcher Pete Schneider

walked 13, gave up 6 runs, and won. It helped that he allowed just 1 hit in 8+ innings (and also, of course, that his team scored 10 runs). Schneider actually held the Phillies scoreless until the 9th inning, when I can only assume his control completely evaporated. He got no outs and gave up 6 earned runs that inning, so it was ugly, that’s for sure. Two Reds relievers gave up 3 more runs (and probably allowed some of Schneider’s runners to score, too) before finally getting the last out for a 10-9 win.

The play log and boxscore for the 1996 Tigers/Mariners game is quite fun, too.

Not only has no team scored more than 11 runs on 5 hits, no one has topped 11 runs on 6 hits. You have to go all the way up to 7 hits to find a team that scored 12+. So this seems like a good stopping point. I hope you enjoyed reading about these bizarre games.