Tim Lincecum Keeps Getting More Unique
Sometimes unusual is good.
Clearly, the headline isn’t literally possible.
But Tim Lincecum’s complete game, 15-strikeout, two-unearned run outing got me thinking. So I went to Baseball-Reference and did some searching. Go figure: No one else in their database, which dates back to 1954, had the exact line of 9 IP, 15 K, 2 R, 0 ER.
Doing a similar search, for complete game shutouts with 15 Ks and three or fewer walks yields 16 results; doing a search for a complete game with one unearned run allowed and 15 strikeouts returns two games.
And yet Lincecum’s line is, I can say with full confidence, unique, mostly because of an error by Edgar Renteria.
Josh Willingham probably thought his two grand slams would be the most unusual happening of the night. Then Lincecum’s line happened.
Sometimes, baseball’s funny like that.
I hear Len Bias had a pretty unique line once.