Cincinnati’s Ace And Chicago’s Jake Arietta Share Rare Offensive Feat in 2016

Bright spots have been few for the Cincinnati Reds this year, but the team had to enjoy Saturday’s game in Arizona on August 27. Not only did they shut out the Diamondbacks 13-0, but starting pitcher Anthony Desclafani achieved something no other pitcher besides Chicago’s Jake Arietta had done this entire season.

Desclafani, who threw a complete game in the contest, also took five trips to the plate. Getting even four at bats in a game is rare for a pitcher, but five plate appearances is even far more unlikely.

The only other time it happened this season was way back on April 17, when Arietta got an at bat for each finger on his pitching hand. The reigning Cy Young Award winner managed to get two hits and a walk that day, when the Cubs clobbered the Reds 16-0 at Great American Ball Park.

Cincinnati was on the winning end Saturday but, unlike Arietta, Desclafani went hitless with three strikeouts in his five at bats. He still got a complete game shutout and his eighth win in ten decisions, accomplishments much more valuable to pitchers.

Like Cincinnati this year, the St. Louis Browns were participants in a pair of historic blowouts that involved pitchers getting a lot of at bats. Only in those two games, a pitcher notched as many as seven at bats.

The first game came on August 12, 1948 when the Browns were trounced 26-3 by the Cleveland Indians, who would go on to capture their last World Series championship that year. Winning pitcher Gene Bearden went four for six with a home run before being relieved by Hall of Famer Bob Feller. Both hurlers got plenty of offensive help from a lineup that featured three Cooperstown bound players, center fielder Larry Doby, second baseman Joe Gordon and shortstop Lou Boudreau.

Boudreau was also the manager of the winning Cleveland club, but seven years later he would be the skipper in the losing dugout after his Kansas City Athletics suffered a 29-6 beating at the hands of the Chicago White Sox. In that game on April 23, 1955, White Sox pitcher Jack Harshman got three hits in six trips to the plate, including a home run. The rest of the offense came form a lineup that featured future Hall of Famers Minnie Minoso and Nellie Foxx.

Besides those two games involving manager Lou Boudreau, the only other time in the past one hundred years that a pitcher got so many plate appearances was on June 8, 1950. The St. Louis Browns were again on the losing side in 29-4 defeat to the Red Sox, who got two home runs from Ted Williams and three more from fellow Hall of Famer Bobby Doerr. Boston pitcher Chuck Stobbs reached the plate seven times, and was incredibly issued three bases on balls.

The trend against long outings for starting pitchers and the heavy dependence on relievers make the odds of any pitcher ever matching the seven plate appearances Stobbs got that day 56 years ago. That is why the fact that Anthony Desclafani came up five times last Saturday is so noteworthy, proving that even a one-sided game in baseball can still be entertaining.

https://youtu.be/C0qBiUlsIh4