Baseball Guru
10-01-2001, 08:50 PM
On May 9, Randy Johnson struck out 20 Reds' batters in nine-innings. That tied the all-time mark, held by Roger Clemens and Kerry Wood. But since the Diamondbacks had scored only one run, the game went to extra-innings, Johnson hit the showers, and the record books instead will note that Johnson struck out 20 batters in an extra-inning game.
While that lack of run support certainly doesn't diminish what the Big Unit did, it does give us a chance to mention former Washington Senator pitcher Tom Cheney, the only man in history to strikeout 21 batters in a major league game. On September 12, 1962, Cheney pitched all sixteen innings of a contest between the Baltimore Orioles and the Washington Senators. Never before had a pitcher struck out more than 18 batters in a game. Cheney notched number 19 in the fourteenth inning, added another in the fifteenth, and ended the game by fanning Orioles pinch hitter Dick Williams.
While that lack of run support certainly doesn't diminish what the Big Unit did, it does give us a chance to mention former Washington Senator pitcher Tom Cheney, the only man in history to strikeout 21 batters in a major league game. On September 12, 1962, Cheney pitched all sixteen innings of a contest between the Baltimore Orioles and the Washington Senators. Never before had a pitcher struck out more than 18 batters in a game. Cheney notched number 19 in the fourteenth inning, added another in the fifteenth, and ended the game by fanning Orioles pinch hitter Dick Williams.