Johnny Cueto Pitches One-Hit Gem To Add to MLB’s Stellar Early Pitching Performances

↵↵Add Johnny Cueto’s performance against the Pirates to the list of early-season gems. Cueto pitched a one-hit shutout as the Reds defeated the Pirates 9-0, with the only hit coming on a single in the third inning by Ronny Cedeno. Cueto faced just one batter over the minimum and had eight strikeouts to go with his one hit and zero walks. ↵

↵↵⇥It was the first complete game of Cueto’s big league career. It was also the first one hitter by a Reds pitcher since John Smiley did it against the Cardinals on September 22, 1996.↵⇥↵⇥“Cueto had an electric fastball and he was throwing in and out and up and down,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said. “He’d get behind and then he’d come in there with that fastball. He and the catcher, [Ramon] Hernandez, were on the same page big time tonight and he minimized his pitches that was the big thing.”↵⇥

↵⇥↵⇥“I’ve been working a lot before each start,” Cueto said. “I’ve been working out pretty hard and I felt real strong. The primary pitch tonight was the fastball.”↵⇥

↵↵

Larry Granillo of Wezen Ball had a post this week about pitchers taking no-hitters deep in to the game, and posited that there are more this year than in previous seasons. Per his research, through May 10, there were 10 actual or near no-hitters so far this season, which is the most at this point in a season since 1984, and the second most in any season since the mid ‘50s, per the research available. Now, Wezen Ball considers a late-inning or “near” no-hitter as any pitcher with a no-hitter into the seventh inning or later.
↵
↵So, to the point of that research, Cueto’s outing on Tuesday, despite giving up just one hit, does not count as a near no-hitter. It actually makes sense, as the pressure on a pitcher clearly mounts each inning he takes the mound, so the later a pitcher takes the no-hitter, seemingly the more pressure he feels with every pitch. Cueto gave up his one hit in the third, making the rest of his outing fantastic, but decidedly less historic ... or pressure-packed. ↵↵Now, with the no-hitter by Ubaldo Jimenez of the Rockies and the perfect game by Dallas Braden of the A’s, Wezen Ball tracks eight more “near” no-hitters this season. According to my research, none of those pitchers finished the game with fewer than three hits. Now, most of them finished their outing with fewer than three hits, but not one finished the game. Not one. ↵

↵↵So far this season there have been 25 complete games, though four of those were recorded in two games that were rained out in the middle innings. Of the 21 remaining complete games, six of those came in losses on the road, with each of those pitchers only pitching eight innings to record a complete game. It’s worth noting that while CC Sabathia leads the American League with two complete games, he has actually yet to pitch into the ninth inning this season.↵

↵↵With that knowledge, it’s rather interesting that there have been 15 games so far this season where a team has given up two or fewer hits, but those remaining 15 complete games don’t exactly match up to these 15 low-hit games. In fact, of the 15 two-hit-or-fewer games this season, only four were complete games, coming in Jimenez’s no-hitter, Braden’s perfect game, Jamie Moyer’s two-hit outing last week and now Cueto’s gem on Tuesday. The other 11 low-hit games came off the arms of at least two pitchers, with five coming from three or even four hurlers.↵

↵↵It seems, based on these games, that managers are more concerned with pitch counts than letting their starters finish some of these fantastic outings. In fact, per a post on Beyond the Boxscore in September, the number of complete games in the Majors has dropped significantly in the last decade. Part of it could be protecting a pitcher from staying out on the mound too long. One extra inning to close out a great game isn’t worth the chance of leaving a guy out there too long and causing an injury. Or, possibly, managers feel they have a stable of bullpen arms who are paid to close out games, so why the heck not use them to close out these games.↵

↵↵Now, according to Retrosheet, 2009 saw the most low-hit complete games of the last five years with 23 games with two hits or fewer and a total of 42 with three hits or fewer. With the aforementioned four games so far this season, there have been two additional games where the pitchers has given up three hits (three games if you include Sabathia’s six-inning complete game), putting 2010 far ahead of last year’s pace.↵

↵↵With Roy Halladay already leading the majors with three complete games, and pitching today in a make-up game for last night’s rain/snow-out in Colorado, there’s a decent chance to add to this list very soon.↵

↵