Broadcaster’s View: What Is the Best Pitching Performance You’ve Seen?

© Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

Broadcasters see a lot of games, and as a result, they see a lot of great pitching performances. Which of them would qualify as “the best” is, of course, subjective. For instance, a no-hitter is always going to stand out, but a two-hitter with a huge strikeout total is arguably even more impressive. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. With that in mind, I recently posed this question to a cross section of big league broadcasters: What is the best pitching performance you’ve seen?

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Robert Ford, Houston Astros

“It would have to be Gerrit Cole throwing a one-hit shutout in 2018 with 16 strikeouts. I’ve been fortunate to call three no-hitters. Two of them were individual no-hitters. There was Justin Verlander’s last one, and the other was Mike Fiers. The Verlander one would be second on my list. The Cole performance was even more impressive.

“Cole was just dominant. He had everything working. I can’t remember who got the hit off of him, but looking back, it’s amazing that anybody did. Honestly, if he were to have that same performance, nine times out of 10 it would have been a no-hitter. This was the exception — the one that wasn’t. I think he had a perfect game-score.”

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Todd Kalas, Houston Astros

“I’ve seen the only no-hitter in Rays’ history, which was Matt Garza. I’ve seen Mark Buehrle’s perfect game against the Rays. I’ve seen Dallas Braden’s perfect game against the Rays. I’ve seen Félix Hernández’s perfect game. But the best might be Gerrit Cole against the Diamondbacks. There was something about that day where you knew, almost as soon as he was on the mound, that it was game over. He was that good. It was a 16-strikeout one-hitter with not much hard contact all day. He was throwing fuel. He throwing a hundo if he needed it, but he mostly sat upper-90s.

“Of the no-hitters and perfect games I’ve seen, that day in Seattle, with Félix, was probably as good as any. That was another day where by the third inning you were thinking, ‘I don’t know if they’re going to get a hit.’ He had such good stuff. He was putting his pitches wherever he wanted. John Jaso was the catcher, and wherever JJ was set up, Félix was hitting the mitt.

“Back then, they had this thing called the King’s Court out in left field. Félix Hernández had this whole section of fans that would wear yellow, and they were going nuts from the start. You could tell it was one of those days. The Rays had very little chance to do anything against him.”

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Len Kasper, Chicago White Sox

Carlos Rodón’s no-hitter against Cleveland on April 14, 2021 was as perfect a non-perfect game has ever been. Rodón pitched a no-hitter and came within one back-foot, 0-2 slider of a perfecto. Perfect into the ninth, he had Roberto Pérez in a two-strike hole with one out and plunked him in the toe. It was such a stunning moment that Rodón literally laughed. He then buckled down and retired the next two batters for a no-hitter. His game score was 94 [with] seven strikeouts and zero walks. His stuff was electric all night, and I am not sure it would have mattered who faced him. He was that good.

“My other nomination is sort of a boutique relief moment, one I don’t think I will ever witness again: July 22, 2004, Marlins at Phillies. Billy Koch begins the bottom of the eighth with a 10-8 lead. He walks Bobby Abreu. Jim Thome then singles, David Bell hits a sac bunt, Pat Burrell walks to load the bases. Koch then goes 3-1 on Jason Michaels and WHAT???!!! Out pops Jack McKeon from the Florida dugout. He wants Armando Benitez. A pitching change with the bases loaded, one out and a 3-1 count? Yes sir. Benitez comes in and strikes out Michaels, then gets Mike Lieberthal on a fly to right to escape an impossible inning. But he’s not done yet. He still has to get three more outs in the ninth, which he does after allowing a Chase Utley leadoff single. After the final out, I called it a two-save performance. It is arguably the worst leverage situation a reliever has ever inherited — three on and a 3-1 count on the batter. Benitez stranded all of the inherited runners, then pitched another scoreless inning to boot. It isn’t the best pitching performance ever, but I would argue that it is the greatest save ever recorded.”

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Tim Neverett, Los Angeles Dodgers

“There would be two. I don’t know if I can choose one over the other, even though they were both very different.

“First: October 26, 2018, Game Three of the World Series in Los Angeles.  Walker Buehler was about as nasty as a pitcher could have been that night while facing the Red Sox, who boasted one of the best offensive lineups in recent MLB history. Buehler worked seven amazing innings, even though he had to recover from a 26-pitch first inning in which he actually retired the side in order. His mix of high-90s fastballs, two-seamers, changeups, and sliders dominated Boston. He allowed only two hits, didn’t walk anyone, threw 108 pitches, and got a no-decision. There were 11 more innings that were played that night, and after seven hours and 20 minutes — the longest World Series game ever played — Max Muncy’s walk-off homer gave the Dodgers the only win they would get in the 2018 World Series.

Second: June 20, 2015 at Nationals Park, Max Scherzer threw the most impressive game, start to finish, that I have seen. Scherzer had just come off a complete-game one-hitter against the Brewers in his last start and was facing a hot Pirates team that had won 20 of 27 games. The 2015 Pirates were the best team they’ve had in a long time, maybe since the 1992 team that was upset in the NLCS by Atlanta. Scherzer carved up the Pirates on this day, retiring the first 26 batters he faced in what seemed like no time at all. He had a great play from Danny Espinosa at shortstop to retire Pedro Alvarez on what would have been the only hit to that point in the game. Each big pitching performance seems to have at least one great defensive play behind it, and this one was it.

“With two outs in the ninth, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle sent up right-handed hitter Jose Tabata to pinch-hit. Tabata wore a big plastic elbow guard on his left elbow. With two strikes and Scherzer one strike away from a perfecto, he threw an inside slider that didn’t break as much as he wanted. Tabata was crowding the plate, and the pitch hit him square in the elbow guard. Home plate umpire Mike Muchlinski awarded first base and the perfect game was over. The next hitter, Josh Harrison, flied out to center field to keep the no-hitter intact, but it didn’t feel quite right. Scherzer threw 106 pitches with 10 punch-outs for a 6-0 Nationals win. I talked with Max about that game last season when he was with the Dodgers. He remembers every detail.”

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Dave O’Brien, Boston Red Sox

“The best performance I ever saw was in 1997, with the Marlins. They had a loaded team. They had Al Leiter, Kevin Brown, Alex Fernandez — a really good pitching staff. Jim Leyland was the manager. In June, we went out to San Francisco to play the Giants at old Candlestick. It was a day game. Day games there were beautiful. It wasn’t windy; it was a sunny, gorgeous day.

“Kevin Brown had been scuffling. He hadn’t been pitching great, and the talk in Miami was that he needed to develop something soft, that he had to start throwing a changeup. Larry Rothschild was the pitching coach, and they were kind of messing with it. But then he goes into this game — this particular start — and in the first inning… you’ve probably seen games where you’re like, ‘Oh my God, he’s got no-hit stuff.’ Well, the bottom was just falling out. You remember that sinker he used to throw at 94-95 [mph]? He broke something like three bats in the first inning. It was like, ‘He’s going to throw a no-hitter.’

“We go to the eighth inning and he’s got a perfect game going. I’ve never called a perfect game. With two out, [Marvin Benard] leans in on a pitch and it clips his elbow pad. He smirks at Brown, like ‘I broke up your perfect game.’ Brown goes on to complete the no-hitter — he finished it with a strikeout — but he missed out on the perfect game.

“Next day we’re on the field. All of the writers are around, near the dugout. Brown and Rothschild walk out together. All Larry Rothschild says, loud enough for the assembled media to hear, is ‘So much for your effing changeup.’ That was it. They didn’t write about him needing a changeup anymore.”

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Jim Palmer, Baltimore Orioles

“The best pitching performance was from a reliever. Moe Drabowsky struck out 11 Dodgers in six-and-two-thirds scoreless innings in Game One of the 1966 World Series. I pitched the next day, and what he did set the tone. The next games were 6-0, 1-0, and 1-0.

“I was also on a team that threw three straight shutouts against the Red Sox in 1974. I was talking to Tim McCarver about it the other day. He said, ‘I joined the club and we never scored a run. This was a first-place club.’

“Individual games… I’ve called no-hitters. I did the Clay Buchholz. And there was the Frank Viola Game Seven in 1987 against the Cardinals. He won that one 4-2. I didn’t get to do Jack Morris’s game in the 1991 World Series. I also would have liked to be there for Tom Seaver’s game when he struck out the last 10 guys. I did see a Nolan Ryan no-hitter in Anaheim. He struck out Bobby Grich on a 3-2 changeup. Bobby couldn’t even get the bat off of his shoulder. That one would have to be up there. But to pick one game… there have just been too many.”

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Rick Rizzs, Seattle Mariners

“Félix’s is one of the greatest games ever pitched in Mariners history — August 15, 2012, a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays. He was absolutely dominating. Brendan Ryan made an outstanding play at shortstop in the middle of the ballgame. B.J. Upton hit a groundball in the hole, Kyle Seager went to his left but couldn’t get to it, and Brendan ranged far to his right and threw B.J. out. The first batter of the game, Sam Fuld, had hit a long fly ball deep to right field. It was a sunny afternoon with shade out in right field, so Eric Thames had to make a heck of a catch near the wall. But Félix was so dominating with his fastball/changeup combination. He ended it by striking out Sean Rodríguez on a changeup on the inside corner. It was the first perfect game in the history of the Mariners franchise, and the last perfect game that’s been thrown in major league baseball.

“I also have to mention Randy Johnson. Back in 1995, the Mariners battled back from 13 games out of first place in early August to tie the California Angels. We had the one-game playoff with Randy pitching against Mark Langston. That was significant in that we had traded Langston to the Montreal Expos in 1989 to get Randy Johnson, Brian Holman and Gene Harris. Now, here was Randy Johnson pitching against Mark Langston, and he was dominating. It was one of the greatest pitched games in the history of the franchise. It was do-or-die. The Mariners had to win in order to get to the playoffs for the very first time in their history. The Mariners won 9-1, and Randy Johnson pitched his heart out.

“I should also mention Brian Holman. He pitched one of the greatest games I’ve ever seen. In late April of 1990, we were in Oakland against that team that had the Bash Brothers. He had a perfect game going with two outs in the bottom in the ninth inning. Mike Gallego was due up and Tony La Russa pinch hit Kenny Phelps, a former Mariner. It was a chilly evening. Dave Valle called for a first-pitch fastball, Holman threw the pitch, and Kenny Phelps hit a home run over Henry Cotto’s head in right field. Then he came back and struck out Rickey Henderson. Brian Holman had been out away from throwing a perfect game.”

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Jon Sciambi, Chicago Cubs

Roy Halladay in Game One of the Division Series in 2010 against the Reds. The only base runner was Jay Bruce, who walked. I think the only hard-hit ball in the entire game was Travis Wood lining to right. And I swear, I’m so not this guy, but we’re probably five innings into calling that game and in my head I was thinking, ‘Wow, I’m going to call a no-hitter.’ That’s how dominant he was. He was just carving them up. I mean, it was just one after the other, after the other. He was in, out, X-ing the strike zone. He was incredible.

“The other one for me would be Kevin Brown’s no-hitter against the Giants in 1997. The only baserunner was Marvin Benard, who kind of leaned his foot into… or at least didn’t move his foot, and got hit by a pitch. That performance was pretty overwhelming. He just dominated that Giants team that day.”

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Chris Welsh, Cincinnati Reds

“I would nominate the outing by Greg Maddux versus the Reds on August 6, 1998. He gave up only three hits, had two GIDPs, six Ks, no walks, and he only threw 92 pitches. He carved them up like a sushi chef that day. The game was interesting because it featured three future Hall-of-Famers — Maddux, Chipper Jones, and Barry Larkin — and the Boone brothers played in that game, too.

“Another one that stands out was in 1981, when I was still playing. It was Dodgers versus Padres, in the height of Fernandomania. Any time Fernando [Valenzuela] pitched at Dodger Stadium, it was a sellout. They were hanging in the rafters. It was a party in the parking lot. It was unlike anything that you can see during the regular season. We had a pitcher who’d been up in the major leagues a few years earlier, I think in 1977, and he got called up for a few games in 1981. His name was Fred Kuhaulua. He was a Hawaiian left-handed pitcher, and he bested Fernando that day. The final was 1-0. Kuhaulua went eight innings, and while he only struck out two or three batters, the fact that he came out of nowhere and pitched that kind of game, in that environment… it stunned everybody in that ballpark. It was kind of his 15 minutes of fame.”





David Laurila grew up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and now writes about baseball from his home in Cambridge, Mass. He authored the Prospectus Q&A series at Baseball Prospectus from December 2006-May 2011 before being claimed off waivers by FanGraphs. He can be followed on Twitter @DavidLaurilaQA.

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mariodegenzgz
1 year ago

Wonderful stuff. Love these trips down memory lane because they’re a way for a younger fan like me to hear some baseball stories.