Chris Carpenter picked up his first win since the 2006 World Series on Thursday, tossing a one-hitter for seven innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch Stadium.
Through the courtesy of statman Tom Orf, we offer the list of St. Louis Cardinals starting pitchers who have allowed either one hit or no hits in an official game over the last 50 years.
In only two of the 55 cases listed below did the Cards starter take a loss – Bob Gibson in 1968 and Anthony Reyes in 2006. Carpenter almost joined them on Thursday until the offense turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead in the home seventh.
Not surprisingly, Gibson is first on the list with four such top games. Those tied for second are less obvious, though. Silvio Martinez, Jose DeLeon and Bob Forsch all had three no/one hitters. Thursday was Carpenter’s second.
| Player | Date | Opp | Tm | Score | App | Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR |
| Ernie Broglio | 7/15/1960 | CHC | W | 6-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 0 |
| Bob Gibson | 5/7/1965 | @PHI | W | 2-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 0 |
| Al Jackson | 4/25/1967 | @HOU | W | 4-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Bob Gibson | 5/22/1968 | LAD | L | 0-2 | GS-8 | L | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| Steve Carlton | 6/19/1968 | CHC | W | 4-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| Ray Washburn | 9/18/1968 | @SFG | W | 2-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 0 |
| Mike Torrez | 4/15/1970 | MON | W | 10-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 0 |
| Bob Gibson | 6/17/1970 | @SDP | W | 8-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 0 |
| Bob Gibson | 8/14/1971 | @PIT | W | 11-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 0 |
| Rick Wise | 6/13/1973 | @CIN | W | 8-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| Reggie Cleveland | 9/27/1973 | CHC | W | 2-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| John Curtis | 8/29/1974 | @SDP | W | 3-1 | CG 9 | W | 9 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Bob Forsch | 4/16/1978 | PHI | W | 5-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Silvio Martinez | 5/30/1978 | @NYM | W | 8-2 | CG 9 | W | 9 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 1 |
| Silvio Martinez | 7/8/1978 | PIT | W | 4-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 0 |
| John Denny | 8/12/1978 | @NYM | W | 5-1 | GS-7 | W | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| John Urrea | 9/21/1978 | NYM | W | 6-2 | GS-7 | W | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| Silvio Martinez | 6/27/1979 | MON | W | 5-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| Bob Forsch | 8/10/1981 | @PHI | W | 7.3 | GS-5 | W | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Bob Forsch | 9/26/1983 | MON | W | 3-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| John Tudor | 8/8/1985 | CHC | W | 8-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| Danny Cox | 4/9/1987 | @CHC | W | 4-2 | GS-7 | W | 6.2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 1 |
| John Tudor | 5/1/1988 | @LAD | W | 9-0 | GS-6 | W | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| Joe Magrane | 8/12/1988 | @CHC | W | 4-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| Scott Terry | 8/11/1989 | @NYM | W | 3-0 | GS-6 | W | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Jose DeLeon | 8/30/1989 | CIN | L | 0-2 | GS-11 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | |
| Jose DeLeon | 9/13/1989 | PIT | T | 0-0 | SHO6 | 5.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | |
| Bob Tewksbury | 8/17/1990 | HOU | W | 5-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Jose DeLeon | 4/15/1991 | @MON | W | 5-4 | GS-7 | 6.1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 1 | |
| Ken Hill | 6/27/1991 | PHI | W | 4-2 | GS-8 | W | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| Mark Clark | 1991-10-05(2) | @CHC | L | 5-7 | GS-5 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 1 | |
| Tom Urbani | 5/17/1994 | @PIT | W | 2-0 | GS-8 | W | 7.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| Allen Watson | 6/18/1994 | PIT | W | 9-0 | GS-5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 | |
| Vicente Palacios | 7/19/1994 | @HOU | W | 10-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 0 |
| Mike Morgan | 7/3/1995 | MON | W | 6-0 | GS-9 | W | 8.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Danny Jackson | 9/28/1996 | CIN | W | 5-2 | GS-7 | W | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Alan Benes | 5/16/1997 | @ATL | L | 0-1 | GS-9 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 0 | |
| Kent Bottenfield | 6/10/1998 | @CHW | L | 8-10 | GS-5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | |
| Matt Morris | 7/30/1998 | MIL | W | 3-2 | GS-5 | W | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Juan Acevedo | 5/21/1999 | @LAD | W | 10-6 | GS-5 | W | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Jose Jimenez | 6/25/1999 | @ARI | W | 10-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 0 |
| Kent Bottenfield | 9/21/1999 | @CHC | W | 7-2 | GS-6 | W | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| Britt Reames | 9/5/2000 | MON | W | 7-6 | GS-6 | W | 5.2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| Mike Matthews | 5/18/2001 | @PHI | L | 4-5 | GS-5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | |
| Bud Smith | 9/3/2001 | @SDP | W | 4-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 0 |
| Darryl Kile | 4/13/2002 | HOU | W | 2-1 | GS-6 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 0 | |
| Garrett Stephenson | 9/25/2002 | ARI | W | 6-1 | GS-5 | W | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
| Woody Williams | 6/5/2003 | TOR | W | 13-5 | GS-8 | W | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Chris Carpenter | 6/14/2005 | @TOR | W | 7-0 | SHO9 | W | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 0 |
| Matt Morris | 9/22/2005 | @CIN | L | 2-6 | GS-6 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 | |
| Anthony Reyes | 6/22/2006 | @CHW | L | 0-1 | CG 8 | L | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
| Kip Wells | 4/8/2007 | @HOU | W | 10-1 | GS-7 | W | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 |
| Adam Wainwright | 6/13/2007 | @KCR | W | 7-3 | GS-8 | W | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Todd Wellemeyer | 9/23/2007 | HOU | W | 4-3 | GS-5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | |
| Joel Pineiro | 4/29/2008 | CIN | W | 7-2 | GS-7 | W | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
Its hard to remember a boffo performance by Kip Wells in April 07 or Joel Pineiro in April 08. A few surprising names on this list.
Silvio Martinez is a name long forgotten. Had a couple of good seasons in the late 1970s and brought Lonnie Smith in trade. Silvio must have suffered an arm injury and then had to quit the game. Perhaps the first Dominican player for the Cards? Glad we have our own Dominican pipeline now.
Julian Javier precedes Silvio Martinez. Pedro Borbon as well. Javier, like Martinez, was discovered by the Pirates, back when Pittsburg was good at recruiting in the Dominican (e.g., Manny Sanguillan, Tony Pena).
Lohse is the only member of the starting 5 not on the list
Silvio did indeed get hurt after his solid 1979 season. We kept him around for a couple of years, but he never really came back, and we traded him to Cleveland after the 1981 season, along with Lary Sorensen, for Lonnie Smith.
That was an interesting trade because the Phillies had just traded Lonnie to the Indians for catcher Bo Diaz; the Philly GM said later that if he’d known that Cleveland was going to turn around and trade Lonnie to the Cards (we were in the same division as Philly bck then) he would never have made the deal.
Remarkable thing about Lonnie – each of his first three team won the WS in his first year with them; the Phillies in 1980, the Cards in 1982, and the Royal in 1985. The Braves went to the WS in Lonnie’s first year with them, in 1991, but lost to the Twins – in large part because of his baserunning error (he was deked by the middle infielders into sliding at second instead of continuing on towards third; that preserved a scoreles tie late in the game and the Twins eventually won, 1-0, in 10 innings).
Another interesting thing about Lonnie – the Cards had a lot of guys involved with cocaine in the early 80′s, and we traded a bunch of them away for virtually nothing. I remember the names involved in those trades, but I don’t want to use those names because some of them might *not* have been traded due to the cocaine connection – Keith Hernandez, of course, was the obvious exception but even then Whitey had to come up with the “crossword puzzle” excuse, presumably for fear of inviting a libel suit if he just came out and said Hernandez was traded because he was a cokehead. But Lonnie, almost alone of all the players who were involved, came forward and asked for help, and went into rehab. It wasn’t totally successful – IIRC, he fell off the wagon by the time he was with Atlanta – but I always admired the fact that he came forward in 1983 to get help, even though he was challenging for the league batting title at the time (he eventually finished second, IIRC).
BTW, 56 sounds like an awfully high number of low-hit games until you realize that we’re counting all the starts, not just the complete games. Obviously, *that* list would be much shorter.
Mark Clark. Good grief.
By a quick scan of the table, the complete game list would be under half.
BTW, Mark Clark’s big claim to fame was that he’s the guy we traded to Cleveland for Mark Whiten.
That was the season the Indians had to rebuild their pitching staff after Steve Olin and Tim Crews dide in the Florida boating accident that also cost Bob Ojeda most of the season and much of his scalp.
I feel obliged to offer comments about Mark Clark. Clark went to Lincoln Land Community College, in Springfield, Illinois, where Abe Lincoln practiced law and the capital of Illinois. Clark was a 9th round pick in 1988.
Clark started 22 games for the Cards and during 8 subsequent seasons started another 175 ML games. This makes him one of the most successful amateur pitchers signed by the Cards between Todd Worrell in 1982 and Matt Morris in 1995. Magrane was better, but his career was short owing to injury. The same may be true of Greg Matthews and Danny Cox. The Cards ran a considerable homegrown pitching “deficit” during the 1980s and 1990s. Clark was one of the few successes of scouting and development. We may have traded him for Whiten after just 2 years, but he stuck around the bigs for 8 more.
John Urrea, Vincente Palacios, Juan Acevedo, Britt Reames, Mike Matthews are some more surprising names, on this list. (Acevedo, Reames, and Matthews lasted fewer than 6 innings.)
Off-thread, but 3B/1B Allen Craig and OF/1B Shane Peterson went to the same high school in Temecula, California (south east of Los Angeles). Craig matriculated at Berkeley, while Peterson went to Long Beach State; they must come from the same town and it could have a good baseball program.