April 29, 1986: Red Sox's Roger Clemens makes history with 20-strikeout game
An argument could easily be made that Roger Clemens is the greatest pitcher in baseball history, and his seven Cy Young Awards stand alone as the most. The only reason Clemens isn't in Cooperstown is because of alleged steroid use, but that's a story for another day. "Rocket" really announced himself to the nation on April 29, 1986 – 34 years ago Wednesday.
Clemens was in his third season in 1986, and while it was clear he was going to be a very good major-league pitcher, his level of dominance hadn't been totally on display yet. As a rookie in 1984, Clemens was 9-4 with a 4.32 ERA in 133.1 innings. The next year, he was 7-5 with a 3.29 ERA in 98.1 innings – his season was shortened due to surgery to fix a torn labrum.
The big Texan was fully healthy to start the 1986 campaign and won his first three starts, striking out a combined 19 batters. But it all came together on April 29 at Fenway Park against a bad, light-hitting Seattle Mariners team as Clemens became the first pitcher in MLB history to strike out 20 batters in a nine-inning game – Boston won 3-1.
He allowed three hits and no walks in the complete game; the only Seattle run came via a Gorman Thomas dinger with two outs in the seventh inning. Six Mariners struck out multiple times, including Phil Bradley with a golden sombrero by going 0-for-4 with four Ks.
Clemens, who threw a whopping 151 pitches, would go on to win the first of his seven Cy Young Awards in 1986, as well as the American League MVP Award.
In a story by Leigh Montville in Sports Illustrated years later, he wrote that: "Home plate umpire (Vic) Voltaggio told a batboy after the seventh inning, 'This is the best pitching performance I've ever seen.'"
There have since been three games where a pitcher has struck out 20 in nine innings:
Clemens again on Sept. 18, 1996 in Detroit
Cubs' Kerry Wood on May 6, 1998 vs. Houston
Nationals' Max Scherzer on May 11, 2016 vs. Detroit
The Washington Senators' Tom Cheney whiffed 21 Orioles batters on Sept. 12, 1962, but that was over a crazy 16 innings. Yes, a pitcher went 16 innings! Hall of Famer Randy Johnson struck out 20 Reds on May 8, 2001 over nine innings, but the game went to extras.
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