Dontrelle Joins Koufax in the History Books

I was watching today’s game while at work and boy-oh-boy was it packed with action.  We saw Jim Leyland get himself tossed, that’s always fun.  We saw Miguel Cabrera, the AL MVP up to this point in the season, pull his hamstring and have to leave the game.  Neither of those things is terribly unique, though.  What was unique was the performance of Dontrelle Willis.

Will managed to pitch 2.1 innings of no-hit baseball before getting pulled.  That sounds weird, right?  You know what sounds even weirder?  What Willis did today has been done by only five other pitchers since 1954, a list that includes Mark Fidrych and Sandy Koufax.  Sadly, it doesn’t appear to be heading towards any great breakthrough or award.

Willis threw his 2.1 innings of no-hit ball, but allowed five earned runs.  Isn’t that just about the strangest thing you’ve ever heard?  Here’s the list of pitchers that have pulled off that same feat:

1. Mark Hutton (8.20.1996):  Hutton, starting for the Marlins, got no one out to start the game.  He walked four batters and gave up five earned runs on no hits.
2. Pat Combs (6.26.1991):  Combs, starting on the hill for the Phillies, got one out against the Cardinals, but walked five men and allowed five earned runs.
3. Mitch Williams (5.6.1988):  Williams is the only reliever to make this list.  The “Wild Thing” came on in the ninth and walked five men and struck out one.  All five walks scored, but the Rangers hung on to win the game.
4. Mark Fidrych (9.24.1980):  Attempting to comeback from a series of injuries The Bird last only two-thirds of an inning in his start against the Blue Jays.  Fidrych walked five men and struck out one before getting pulled.  Some how the Tigers won the game any way.
5. Sandy Koufax (6.3.1958):  The future Hall of Famer struggled with his control early in his career.  He is the only pitcher on this list to last longer into the game than Willis did today.  Koufax went 2.2 innings and walked six and struck out three.  Again, no hits allowed in this one.

Hopefully Willis’ bad start today means that he will go on to become the next Sandy Koufax.  Dontrelle probably got squeezed a bit by the home plate umpire (this lead to Leyland’s ejection), but quite often he wasn’t anywhere near the plate with his pitches.

Willis has had a couple of pretty decent starts, but facts are facts.  Willis is 1-3 with an ERA of 6.84.  He was walked 15 batters in only 22 innings of work and has countered the walks with only 13 strikeouts.  I don’t need to tell you that guys who walk more than they strikeout do not tend to have long careers.

I don’t know how much longer Dontrelle has to turn it around, but suddenly I’m not all that confident about the Tigers rotation.