Hey, we've cleared 200 comments with two games left to play. And I've been playing with the database. I blame Trey Yescavage.
It used to be a fairly simple matter to just copy and paste the pitcher's line from bb-ref into an Excel spreadsheet (with an intervening stop in Notepad to get rid of all the program codes). But it had been a couple of years since I had tended to my record of Every Start Ever Made by a Blue Jays pitcher, and to my extreme annoyance I discovered bb-ref had moved the location of a couple of columns. This complicated matters greatly, along with the occasional appearance of IR and IS columns for those pitchers who also moonlight as relievers. I also discovered I had somehow missed one game along the way (it turned to have been from August 1985). So many challenges.
But like Inspector Clouseau, I accept the challenge. I got 'em all now. Here are the 52 times a Blue Jays pitcher made his first career appearance starting for Our Gang, ranked by Game Score. As many suspected, Mauro Gozzo still leads the way. But Yescavage does crack the Top Ten.
I have lots of random information I can pass along!
The highest scoring start ever? Brandon Morrow's one-hitter with 17 Ks in August 2010, the only start in team history with a Game Score of 100. There have been another 30 that scored better than 90, by: Dave Stieb (5), Roy Halladay (5), Jimmy Key (3), Jim Clancy (2), Roger Clemens (2), Jesse Jefferson, Pat Hentgen, Ted Lilly, Dave Bush, Dustin McGowan, Jim Gott, Luis Leal, Kevin Gausman, Todd Stottlemyre, Esteban Loaiza, Mark Buehrle, Marco Estrada, Alek Manoah.)
The worst ever? When David Wells took one for the team against Milwaukee in August 1992, allowing 13 earned runs in 4.1, for a Game Score of -14, one of five starts with a negative Game Score (responsible for the others? Brian Tallet, Edwin Jackson, Dave Stewart, and Roy Halladay.)
Most pitches thrown in a game? Roger Clemens threw 149 pitches against Oakland in May 1998; he cleared 140 pitches two more times while he was here, as did Jack Morris, David Cone, and Jimmy Key.
Of course, we only have Pitch Counts from around 1988 and after, and I'm sure there were some larger ones before. In May 1980, Dave Stieb started against Oakland - he went 12 innings and faced 49 batters, the most ever by a Jays pitcher. Jesse Jefferson also made a 12 inning start in 1978.
A Jays starter has faced at least 40 hitters in a game on 22 occasions, but it hasn't happened since Chris Carpenter - in just 5 innings - in June 2001.
The shortest start? That was Brandon Morrow, forced out of the game with a back problem after facing one Washington batter in June 2012. He would miss the next two months. I just checked the thread - there was some discussion about who had the brightest future: Bryce Harper (still a teenager), Mike Trout (just 20 years old), or Brett Lawrie.
It used to be a fairly simple matter to just copy and paste the pitcher's line from bb-ref into an Excel spreadsheet (with an intervening stop in Notepad to get rid of all the program codes). But it had been a couple of years since I had tended to my record of Every Start Ever Made by a Blue Jays pitcher, and to my extreme annoyance I discovered bb-ref had moved the location of a couple of columns. This complicated matters greatly, along with the occasional appearance of IR and IS columns for those pitchers who also moonlight as relievers. I also discovered I had somehow missed one game along the way (it turned to have been from August 1985). So many challenges.
But like Inspector Clouseau, I accept the challenge. I got 'em all now. Here are the 52 times a Blue Jays pitcher made his first career appearance starting for Our Gang, ranked by Game Score. As many suspected, Mauro Gozzo still leads the way. But Yescavage does crack the Top Ten.
Date Opp Rslt IP H R ER HR BB SO HBP BF Pit GSc Dec
1 Mauro Gozzo 08-Aug 1989 TEX W,7-0 8 3 0 0 0 3 4 0 28 108 77 W
2 Alek Manoah 27 May 2021 @ NYY W,2-0 6 2 0 0 0 2 7 0 22 88 73 W
3 Trent Thornton 31-Mar 2019 DET L,3-4 5 2 0 0 0 0 8 0 17 75 71
4 Brandon Lyon 04-Aug 2001 BAL W,2-1 7.1 4 1 1 0 1 5 0 27 101 70 W
5 Jesse Litsch 15-May 2007 BAL W,2-1 8.2 4 1 1 0 3 1 0 30 99 70 W
6 Marc Rzepczynski 07-Jul 2009 @ TBR L,1-3 6 2 1 1 0 4 7 0 24 105 67
7 Jerry Garvin 10-Apr 1977 CHW W,3-1 8 5 1 1 0 4 2 0 33 66 W
8 Nate Pearson 29-Jul 2020 @ WSN L,0-4 5 2 0 0 0 2 5 0 19 75 66
9 Trey Yesavage 15-Sep 2025 @ TBR W, 2-1 5 3 1 1 0 2 9 0 20 69 64
10 Butch Edge 13-Aug 1979 @ OAK W,4-2 6.2 6 1 1 0 2 6 0 29 62 W
11 Dustin McGowan 30-Jul 2005 TEX L,2-3 5 2 1 1 0 3 6 1 21 91 62
12 Dave Bush 02-Jul 2004 @ MON L,0-2 5.2 4 1 1 0 1 4 0 22 93 60 L
13 Brett Cecil 05-May 2009 CLE W,10-6 6 6 2 1 0 0 6 3 25 96 60
14 Zach Stewart 16-Jun 2011 BAL L,3-4 7 7 2 2 1 1 4 1 27 86 58
15 Anthony Kay 07-Sep 2019 @ TBR L,3-5 5.2 4 2 2 0 3 8 1 24 92 58
16 Thomas Hatch 26-Jul 2020 @ TBR L,5-6 2.1 0 0 0 0 2 3 0 9 47 58
17 Phil Huffman 10-Apr 1979 @ CHW W,10-2 6 7 1 1 0 0 3 0 25 57 W
18 Gustavo Chacin 20-Sep 2004 @ NYY W,6-3 7 4 3 3 0 3 2 1 27 98 56 W
19 Chris Rowley 12-Aug 2017 PIT W,7-2 5.1 5 1 1 0 1 3 0 22 75 56 W
20 Alex Sanchez 23-May 1989 MIN W,2-1 6 5 1 1 0 5 1 0 26 97 54
21 Ricky Romero 09-Apr 2009 DET W,6-2 6 7 2 2 1 2 5 1 25 93 53 W
22 Yariel Rodriguez 13-Apr 2024 COL W,5-3 3.2 4 1 1 1 2 6 0 16 68 53
23 David Purcey 18-Apr 2008 DET L,4-8 4.1 2 1 1 0 7 3 0 22 86 51
24 Ryan Borucki 26-Jun 2018 @ HOU L,0-7 6 6 2 2 0 4 3 0 27 95 51 L
25 Robert Ray 02-May 2009 BAL W,5-4 5.2 4 3 3 1 4 2 1 25 90 47
26 Matt Boyd 27-Jun 2015 TEX L,0-4 6.2 9 4 4 3 0 7 0 29 103 47 L
27 Scott Brow 28-Apr 1993 KCR L,3-5 6 5 4 4 0 2 2 0 25 101 46 L
28 Scott Richmond 30-Jul 2008 TBR L,2-3 5.1 7 3 3 1 0 4 0 22 92 46 L
29 Ty Taubenheim 20-May 2006 @ COL L,1-5 5 5 3 3 1 3 3 2 25 86 45 L
30 Jeff Byrd 20-Jun 1977 CLE L,5-8 5 5 3 3 0 5 4 0 25 44
31 Denis Boucher 12-Apr 1991 MIL W,5-4 5.1 5 4 3 2 1 1 0 22 85 44
32 Roy Halladay 20-Sep 1998 @ TBD W,7-5 5 8 3 2 1 2 5 0 24 93 44
33 Kyle Drabek 15-Sep 2010 @ BAL L,1-3 6 9 3 3 0 3 5 0 26 88 44 L
34 Henderson Alvarez 10-Aug 2011 OAK W,8-4 5.2 8 3 3 1 1 4 1 27 104 44
35 Casey Janssen 27-Apr 2006 BAL L,5-7 4 3 3 2 0 3 0 2 20 95 43 L
36 Sean Reid-Foley 13-Aug 2018 @ KCR L,1-3 5 6 3 3 1 3 3 0 22 97 43 L
37 Dave Stieb 29 Jun 1979 @ BAL L,1-6 6 6 6 5 2 2 5 0 26 41 L
38 Luis Leal 25-May 1980 NYY W,9-6 7.2 12 3 3 1 4 0 0 33 39 W
39 Juan Guzman 07-Jun 1991 @ BAL L,4-6 4.2 6 4 4 0 3 5 0 23 94 38 L
40 Matt Williams 02 Aug 1983 NYY W,13-6 5 5 5 5 3 4 3 1 25 36 W
41 Mark Eichhorn 30-Aug 1982 BAL L,3-6 4.2 6 5 5 1 3 5 0 23 34 L
42 Pasqual Coco 17-Jul 2000 NYM L,5-7 4 5 4 4 1 5 2 1 23 95 33
43 Drew Hutchison 21-Apr 2012 @ KCR W,9-5 5.1 8 5 5 2 3 4 1 26 99 33 W
44 Mike Smith 26-Apr 2002 @ ANA L,0-4 4 7 4 4 0 2 1 2 23 83 31 L
45 Brad Mills 18-Jun 2009 @ PHI W,8-7 3.2 6 4 4 2 4 2 0 20 94 31
46 David Wells 30-Jun 1987 NYY L,0-4 4 9 4 4 0 2 4 0 22 30 L
47 Giovanni Carrara 29-Jul 1995 OAK W,18-11 5 7 5 5 1 5 2 0 26 100 30 W
48 Mike Darr 06-Sep 1977 BOS L,2-11 1.1 3 5 5 1 4 1 1 12 25 L
49 Jim Clancy 26-Jul 1977 TEX L,0-14 2 5 5 5 0 3 1 0 13 24 L
50 Chris Carpenter 12-May 1997 @ MIN L,2-12 3 8 7 5 0 3 5 0 21 78 21 L
51 Sean Nolin 24-May 2013 BAL L,6-10 1.1 7 6 6 1 1 0 0 11 35 15 L
52 Jeff Ware 02-Sep 1995 @ CHW L,4-10 1.1 7 7 6 0 3 1 0 14 60 12 L
I have lots of random information I can pass along!
The highest scoring start ever? Brandon Morrow's one-hitter with 17 Ks in August 2010, the only start in team history with a Game Score of 100. There have been another 30 that scored better than 90, by: Dave Stieb (5), Roy Halladay (5), Jimmy Key (3), Jim Clancy (2), Roger Clemens (2), Jesse Jefferson, Pat Hentgen, Ted Lilly, Dave Bush, Dustin McGowan, Jim Gott, Luis Leal, Kevin Gausman, Todd Stottlemyre, Esteban Loaiza, Mark Buehrle, Marco Estrada, Alek Manoah.)
The worst ever? When David Wells took one for the team against Milwaukee in August 1992, allowing 13 earned runs in 4.1, for a Game Score of -14, one of five starts with a negative Game Score (responsible for the others? Brian Tallet, Edwin Jackson, Dave Stewart, and Roy Halladay.)
Most pitches thrown in a game? Roger Clemens threw 149 pitches against Oakland in May 1998; he cleared 140 pitches two more times while he was here, as did Jack Morris, David Cone, and Jimmy Key.
Of course, we only have Pitch Counts from around 1988 and after, and I'm sure there were some larger ones before. In May 1980, Dave Stieb started against Oakland - he went 12 innings and faced 49 batters, the most ever by a Jays pitcher. Jesse Jefferson also made a 12 inning start in 1978.
A Jays starter has faced at least 40 hitters in a game on 22 occasions, but it hasn't happened since Chris Carpenter - in just 5 innings - in June 2001.
The shortest start? That was Brandon Morrow, forced out of the game with a back problem after facing one Washington batter in June 2012. He would miss the next two months. I just checked the thread - there was some discussion about who had the brightest future: Bryce Harper (still a teenager), Mike Trout (just 20 years old), or Brett Lawrie.
Those were the days. Anyway....
Holy cow. Two in a row in Tampa? This is... different.
