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List of Major League Baseball single-inning strikeout leaders
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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In baseball, a strikeout occurs when a pitcher throws three strikes to a batter during his time at bat.[1] Under Rules 6.05 and 6.09 of the Official Rules of Major League Baseball, a batter becomes a runner when a third strike is not caught by the catcher with no runner on first base or when there are two outs.[2] The strikeout is recorded, but the batter-runner must be tagged or forced out in order for the defensive team to register the out. If the struck-out batter-runner reaches base and no out is recorded, it becomes possible for a pitcher to record more than three strikeouts in an inning.[3]
A. J. Burnett (left) is one of five pitchers to strike out four batters in one inning on multiple occasions, while Orval Overall (right) is the only pitcher to do so in the World Series.
As a result of this rule, 97 different pitchers have struck out four batters in a half-inning of a Major League Baseball (MLB) game, the most recent being Steven Matz of the St. Louis Cardinals on June 19, 2025. Five players – Chuck Finley, A. J. Burnett, Zack Greinke, Craig Kimbrel, and Tyler Glasnow – have accomplished the feat more than once in their career;[4] no player has ever struck out more than four batters in an inning.
Ed Crane was the first player to strike out four batters in one inning, doing so in the fifth inning for the New York Giants against the Chicago White Stockings on October 4, 1888.[5] It was a relatively rare feat before 1960, with no occurrences at all between June 11, 1916 and May 27, 1956 — nearly 40 years. Since 1990 it has become much more common, with multiple occurrences in most years; the most in one season was in 2012, with eight. It has never happened twice in a game, though on two occasions (October 4, 2009 and September 20, 2012) it happened in two different games on the same day.
Out of the 97 pitchers who have accomplished the feat, 73 were right-handed and 24 were left-handed. Finley is the only pitcher to achieve the feat twice in a single season, and the only one to do it on three separate occasions (and all within a one-year span).[6] Pete Richert struck out four batters in the third inning of his first major league game, becoming the only player to attain the milestone in his debut.[7] Orval Overall is the sole player to strike out four batters in one inning in the World Series.[8]
Of the players eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame who have struck out four batters in an inning, four have been elected: Don Drysdale, Bob Gibson, Walter Johnson, and Phil Niekro.[9] Players are eligible for the Hall of Fame if they have played in at least 10 major league seasons, and have either been retired for five seasons or dead for at least six months.[10]
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Players
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See also
Notes
- The Baseball Almanac general reference below links to the profiles of each player, where their active status can be verified.
References
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