Records and Statistics
On April 16, 2005, he finished a game against the Seattle Mariners in only 1 hour and 39 minutes, giving up only 1 run and 3 hits (all to Ichiro Suzuki), and backed by only two White Sox runs, both homers by Paul Konerko. In the game, he threw just 106 pitches. Subtracting the time spent between innings, the game took only 63½ minutes to play.
On October 25, 2005, Buehrle became the first pitcher in World Series history to start and save consecutive games.
On May 14, 2006, Buehrle became the first major-league starting pitcher in over a century to allow seven runs in the first inning but then win the game. The previous time had been on September 29, 1900, when Jack Powell of the St. Louis Cardinals pitched such a game against the Chicago Cubs.
On April 18, 2007, Buehrle threw a no-hitter versus the Texas Rangers at U.S. Cellular Field. (See "2005–2008" section, above.)
On June 14, 2009, Buehrle hit his first major league home run, off Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Braden Looper, becoming the first White Sox pitcher to hit a home run in a game since Jon Garland on June 18, 2006, at Cincinnati.
On July 23, 2009, Buehrle threw a perfect game at U.S. Cellular Field against the Tampa Bay Rays. (See "2009–present" section, above.) Had it not been for a walk of Sammy Sosa in his 2007 no-hitter, Buehrle would have become the first pitcher in MLB history to throw two perfect games.
On July 28, 2009, Buehrle established a major league record for number of consecutive hitters retired, breaking the previous record of 41 set by Jim Barr (starter) and teammate Bobby Jenks (reliever), by retiring Minnesota Twin and former teammate Joe Crede; he went on to retire the next three batters to set the record at 45 consecutive batters retired. The streak ended with a walk to Alexi Casilla, foiling another perfect game after 5⅔ innings.
On August 3, 2010, Buehrle won his tenth game of the season against the Detroit Tigers pitching 7⅔ innings allowing 2 earned runs on seven hits and striking out one batter in a 12–2 blowout. The win marks 10 consecutive seasons of at least 10 wins. Buehrle is the third active starting pitcher, joining CC Sabathia and Javier Vázquez, to accomplish this feat.
Read more about this topic: Mark Buehrle
Famous quotes containing the words records and/or statistics:
“What a wonderful faculty is memory!—the most mysterious and inexplicable in the great riddle of life; that plastic tablet on which the Almighty registers with unerring fidelity the records of being, making it the depository of all our words, thoughts and deeds—this faithful witness against us for good or evil.”
—Susanna Moodie (1803–1885)
“He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts—for support rather than illumination.”
—Andrew Lang (1844–1912)