RIP Frank Castillo

Yesterday was a sad day in baseball as we learned that not only had eight-time Gold Glove first baseman George Scott passed away, but former pitcher Frank Castillo drowned on Sunday at the tragically young age of 44.

Matthew Pouliot of Hardball Talk wrote a nice recollection of the journeyman pitcher's finest game:


But let’s go back to 1995 for a moment. On Sept. 25, Castillo was making his next to last start of the Cubs’ abbreviated season. Three weeks earlier, he had pitched a five-hit shutout against the Rockies. But on Sept. 25, facing the Cardinals, he had something even more special in store. With his wife watching on, Castillo took a no-hitter into the bottom of the ninth, losing it only when Bernard Gilkey delivered a triple on a 2-2 fastball with two outs, Sammy Sosa dove for the ball in right field, but came up a bit short.
“It was one of those pitches that as soon as I threw it, I wanted it back,” Castillo told the Chicago Tribune’s Paul Sullivan afterwards. “Sammy made a great effort. He almost made it.”

He still pitched a 13-strikeout one-hitter. The fact that the lone knock was a triple must make this one-hitter unique and thanks to the Baseball-Reference Play Index I found that it is. There have been exactly 100 one-hit shutouts since that day (including two from the postseason) and Castillo's is the last in which the hit was a three-bagger. Of the 685 one-hit shutouts (681 reg. season) since 1916, only 11 featured a triple:

Player	Date	Tm	Opp	Rslt	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	Pit	Str	GSc	3B	Triple
Frank Castillo	1995-09-25	CHC	STL	W 7-0	9.0	1	0	0	2	13	114	78	96	1	Bernard Gilkey top 9, 2 outs
Danny Darwin	1993-08-18	BOS	CHW	W 5-0	9.0	1	0	0	2	2	94	62	85	1	Dan Pasqua top 8, 1 out
Zane Smith	1991-05-29	PIT	STL	W 6-0	9.0	1	0	0	1	5	89	62	89	1	Jose Oquendo bot 3, 1 out
Teddy Higuera	1987-09-01	MIL	KCR	W 2-0	9.0	1	0	0	2	9			92	1	Ross Jones bot 8, 2 out
Jimmy Jones	1986-09-21	SDP	HOU	W 5-0	9.0	1	0	0	0	5			90	1	Bob Knepper bot 3, 2 out
Terry Leach	1982-10-01	NYM	PHI	W 1-0	10.0	1	0	0	6	7			91	1	Luis Aguayo bot 5, 1 out
Rich Gale	1978-06-13	KCR	TEX	W 5-0	9.0	1	0	0	6	4			83	1	Al Oliver top 7, 2 out
Dennis Eckersley	1977-08-12 (1)	CLE	MIL	W 2-0	9.0	1	0	0	0	8			93	1	Cecil Cooper top 1, 2 out
Jim Hannan	1970-08-17	WSA	KCR	W 7-0	9.0	1	0	0	2	6			89	1	Paul Schaal top 5, 2 out
Bobo Newsom	1942-05-06	WSH	DET	W 7-0	9.0	1	0	0	4	4			85	1	Doc Cramer top 3
Wilbur Cooper	1919-08-08	PIT	BRO	W 3-0	9.0	1	0	0	3	2			84	1	Ivy Olson top 1, 0 out

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/30/2013.

No one was a strike away from a no-hitter like Castillo was, but Danny Darwin and Teddy Higuera took bids into the eighth and Rich Gale took his into the seventh. The 1986 game by Jimmy Jones is notable in that the triple he gave up was to Bob Knepper the opposing pitcher! Terry Leach's game in 1982 was a 10-inning shutout, the last by a Met.

There's no play-by-play data for the Bobo Newsom and Wilbur Cooper games, but I was able to find this Pittsburgh Press report that said when Cramer hit his triple. Also, thanks to parts of The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers showing up on Google Books, I was able to find that the triple hit off Cooper led off the game!


RIP

Alfonso Soriano and the Longest Gaps Between Yankees Stints

Alfonso Soriano is coming back to the Bronx. The former Yankee farmhand that played in two World Series, clubbed a would-be title-clinching homer in 2001, finished third in the A.L. MVP vote in 2002 and was dealt to Texas for Alex Rodriguez in 2004 was traded from the Cubs to the Yankees today in exchange for a Class A pitching prospect, Bob Nightengale reports.

He's 37 now (?!) and has been an average player this year in Chicago, but looking at the Yankees offense he sure can't make matters worse.

Soriano was an old favorite and it made me wonder who had the longest span between stints with the Yankees. After Excel-ing my way through the franchise player and pitcher registers on Baseball-Reference I've found that Soriano will be the 20th player to leave the Yankees and play at least five seasons with another club(s) before coming back:

Player	First Tenure	Full Seasons Away	Return
Al Leiter	1987-89	15	2005
Rube Oldring	1905	10	1916
Alfonso Soriano	1999-2003	9	2013
Chris Chambliss	1974-79	8	1988
Marcus Thames	2002	7	2010
Rey Sanchez	1997	7	2005
Roberto Kelly	1987-92	7	2000
Urban Shocker	1916-17	7	1925-28
Cliff Markle	1915-16	7	1924
Nick Johnson	2001-03	6	2010
Ruben Sierra	1995-96	6	2003-05
Jack Quinn	1909-12	6	1919-21
Javier Vazquez	2004	5	2010
Homer Bush	1997-98	5	2004
Randy Velarde	1987-95	5	2001
Sterling Hitchcock	1992-95	5	2001-03
Rich Gossage	1978-83	5	1989
Steve Balboni	1981-83	5	1989-90
Doyle Alexander	1976	5	1982-83
Mike Hegan	1964, 66-67	5	1973-74

Only two players have gone longer than Soriano's nine seasons between pinstripe tenures. Al Leiter came up in 1987 and made 22 starts over the course of three injury-plagued seasons before being traded to Toronto for Jesse Barfield in 1989. He resurrected his career, winning championships with the Blue Jays and Marlins, along with another pennant with the Mets.

The Yankees struggled badly out of the gate in 2005, going 11-19 to start the year and they sat six games out of first in July. The Yankees picked him up from the Marlins more than 16 years after his last game with the team, and he made his return in a Sunday Night Baseball game at Fenway Park. Leiter held the Red Sox to one run in six and one-third innings as the Yanks won to pull within a half-game of first-place Boston. They passed the Sox the next day and eventually won the division title thanks in part to fellow scrap-heap acquisitions Aaron Small and Shawn Chacon.

His last appearance on a big league mound was in Game Four of the 2005 ALDS at Yankee Stadium against the Angels. New York trailed the series and the game 2-1 when Leiter came in to face Darin Erstad with one on and one out in the seventh inning. He induced a 4-6-3 double play to end the frame and he picked up the win when the Yankees came back in the bottom of the inning. They evened the series, but lost the deciding fifth game the next night in Anaheim.


The player between Leiter and Soriano bookended a long, successful run with the Athletics with brief cameos in New York. Deadball-era outfielder Rube Oldring played eight games with the New York Highlanders in 1905 and was taken in the Rule 5 draft by Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics. Oldring would man center field for the 1911 World Series winner before sliding to left for back-to-back pennant winners in 1913 (another title) and 1914 (stunningly swept by the Miracle Braves in the Fall Classic). Mack began dismantling his first dynasty in 1915 and during the fire sale released Oldring the following year. Rube signed with the Yankees a couple of weeks later, but only played 43 games before being let go again and retiring. He returned to the A's in 1918 for 49 games, then hung it up for good.


And then there's Soriano, third on the list once he takes the field as a Yankee for the second time. The club's hitting is in dire straits, and while he likely won't be the savior, he still has some power and it's nice to have an old friend back.

No-Hitting and One-Hitting the Same Team

Angels righty Jered Weaver no-hit the Minnesota Twins on May 2, 2012. A little over a year later, the Twins were back in Anaheim and Weaver dominated again. He gave up a first-inning single to Doug Bernier, then retired 19 straight during a two-hit, nine-strikeout scoreless masterpiece.

Watching him today got me thinking about pitchers that have thrown a no-hitter and a one-hitter against the same team.

Using the Baseball-Reference Play Index, I compiled this list. It only includes pitchers to throw a no-hitter and one-hitter against the same team since 1914.

Pitcher	Opponent	No-Hitter	One-Hitter
Mark Buehrle	Rays	7/23/2009	8/3/2001
Nolan Ryan	Blue Jays	5/1/1991	4/23/1989
Dave Stieb	Indians	9/2/1990	9/24/1988
Burt Hooton	Phillies	4/16/1972	4/29/1982
Jim Colborn	Rangers	5/14/1977	5/9/1973
Rick Wise	Reds	6/23/1971	6/13/1973
Don Wilson	Reds	5/1/1969	9/17/1971
Jim Maloney	Astros	4/30/1969	9/26/1969
Jim Maloney	Cubs	8/19/1965	7/23/1963
Sandy Koufax	Mets	6/30/1962	6/20/1965
Warren Spahn	Phillies	9/16/1960	8/1/1953
Lew Burdette	Phillies	8/18/1960	6/16/1957
Hoyt Wilhelm	Yankees	9/20/1958	5/22/1959
Virgil Trucks	Senators	7/22/1952	5/15/1952
Bob Feller	Tigers	7/1/1951	6/27/1939
Bob Lemon	Tigers	6/30/1948	5/29/1951
Ewell Blackwell	Braves	6/18/1947	5/15/1951
Bob Feller	White Sox	4/16/1940	8/8/1946
Jim Tobin	Phillies	6/22/1944	4/23/1944
Carl Hubbell	Pirates	5/8/1929	6/5/1943
Lon Warneke	Reds	8/30/1941	4/17/1934
Bill Dietrich	Browns	6/1/1937	5/29/1941
Dazzy Vance	Phillies	9/13/1925	9/8/1925
Jesse Barnes	Phillies	5/7/1922	7/4/1919
Jimmy Lavender	Giants	8/31/1915	6/14/1916

A couple of notes here:

• Buehrle's no-no was a perfect game.
• Ryan threw seven no-hitters and 12 one-hitters, but he didn't make the list until his final no-no. He pitched a no-hitter or one-hitter against every A.L. team except the Rays (of course) and Angels.
• Hooton's no-hitter was as a Cub and his one-hitter was as a Dodger ten years later.
• Colborn was with the Brewers for his 1973 one-hitter and threw his no-hitter as a Royal.
• Maloney and Feller make the list by accomplishing the feat against two different teams.
• Maloney, Trucks, Tobin and Vance pitched their no-hitter and one-hitters in the same season.
• Vance did it in consecutive starts! He one-hit the Phils at Ebbets Field on September 8, 1925, then somehow outdid himself when Philly came back to Brooklyn five days later.

Only one pitcher has pitched a no-hitter against the same opponent twice. Addie Joss of the Cleveland Naps pitched a perfect game against the White Sox on October 2, 1908. On April 20, 1910 he blanked Chicago again, missing a perfecto by two walks and an error behind him. Sadly, he would be dead within a year. Just two days after his 31st birthday, Joss died of tubercular meningitis. His brilliant career was tragically cut short, and it took decades for him to get Hall of Fame recognition because he was one year shy of the ten-season requirement. It was eventually waived in his case and he was finally enshrined in 1978.

Walk-off Homers in Scoreless Extra-Inning Games

UPDATE (7-29): There is a new entry on the list! Yasiel Puig demolished a baseball in the 11th inning yesterday to give the Dodgers a 1-0 win over Cincinnati. His was the 47th 0-0 extra-inning walk-off homer since 1945.


Milwaukee's Caleb Gindl hit his first major league home run yesterday, and it just happened to be a bottom of the 13th game-winner that snapped a scoreless tie.

Video here

Using the Baseball-Reference Play Index, I looked up extra-inning walk-off homers since 1945 that came in a 0-0 game. Gindl's was the 46th such dinger, the first since Brett Lawrie of the Blue Jays went deep off Boston's Dan Wheeler in the 11th inning on September 5, 2011.

All 46 0-0 extra-inning walk-offs are listed at the bottom, but since Gindl hit his in the 13th, I wanted to narrow it further just to see the games that were scoreless for as long as today's game. This was the tenth 0-0 homer in the 13th inning or later (since '45):

Date	Hitter	Team	Opp	Pitcher	Inn	Outs/RoB
7/21/2013	Caleb Gindl	MIL	MIA	Ryan Webb	13	0 out ---
8/7/2009	Alex Rodriguez	NYY	BOS	Junichi Tazawa	15	2 out 1--
9/2/2001	Ryan Klesko	SD	ARZ	Byung-Hyun Kim	13	0 out ---
9/26/1998	Alex Gonzalez	FLA	PHI	Ricky Bottalico	13	1 out ---
6/17/1976	Dave Kingman	NYM	LAD	Charlie Hough	14	1 out ---
9/22/1975	Adrian Garrett	CAL	CWS	Goose Gossage	16	1 out 12-
7/15/1971	Rico Petrocelli	BOS	MIN	Stan Williams	13	2 out 12-
8/19/1969	Tommie Agee	NYM	SF	Juan Marichal	14	1 out ---
7/2/1963	Willie Mays	SF	MLN	Warren Spahn	16	1 out ---
4/30/1950	Del Rice	STL	CHN	Johnny Schmitz	13	1 out ---

The legendary Marichal/Spahn duel from 1963 makes the list. Both Hall of Famers went the distance on the hill, with another Hall of Famer ending it as Willie Mays homered in the 16th. Marichal, the winning pitcher in that game, is the only pitcher to allow two of the 46 homers. No batter appears twice on the list of 46. Yesterday's and the 1998 game are the two longest scoreless games in Marlins history, with the Fish winning one and losing one. Johnny Schmitz, loser of the 1950 game, still earned a bullpen spot on my All-Time J.S. team.

Here is the complete list, in three groups:

(1945-1976)

Yr#	Date	Batter	Tm	Opp	Pitcher	Score	Inn	RoB	Out	Play Description
1	1945-07-27	Vince DiMaggio	PHI	NYG	Bill Voiselle	tied 0-0	b11	1--	2	Home Run; Antonelli Scores
2	1950-04-30	Del Rice	STL	CHC	Johnny Schmitz	tied 0-0	b13	---	1	Home Run
3	1953-09-05	Dick Kokos	SLB	DET	Ralph Branca	tied 0-0	b12	---	0	Home Run
4	1954-07-05 (2)	Harvey Kuenn	DET	CLE	Don Mossi	tied 0-0	b11	---	1	Home Run
5	1954-07-19	Hobie Landrith	CIN	NYG	Al Corwin	tied 0-0	b12	---	1	Home Run
6	1955-05-02	Carl Furillo	BRO	MLN	Gene Conley	tied 0-0	b12	1--	1	Home Run (Fly Ball to LF-CF); Robinson Scores
7	1956-04-29 (1)	Bill Tuttle	DET	CLE	Herb Score	tied 0-0	b10	---	2	Home Run
8	1958-05-09	Ted Kluszewski	PIT	PHI	Robin Roberts	tied 0-0	b12	---	0	Home Run
9	1958-09-05	Bill Virdon	PIT	MLN	Carl Willey	tied 0-0	b10	---	0	Home Run (Deep RF)
10	1962-04-11	Carroll Hardy	BOS	CLE	Ron Taylor	tied 0-0	b12	123	0	Home Run; Yastrzemski Scores; Malzone Scores; Nixon Scores
11	1963-07-02	Willie Mays	SFG	MLN	Warren Spahn	tied 0-0	b16	---	1	Home Run
12	1965-04-12	Bob Bailey	PIT	SFG	Juan Marichal	tied 0-0	b10	---	0	Home Run
13	1967-07-28	Tony Horton	CLE	BAL	Moe Drabowsky	tied 0-0	b12	---	0	Home Run
14	1967-09-14	Don Buford	CHW	CLE	Orlando Pena	tied 0-0	b10	123	2	Home Run; Agee Scores; Josephson Scores; Horlen Scores
15	1969-08-19	Tommie Agee	NYM	SFG	Juan Marichal	tied 0-0	b14	---	1	Home Run
16	1971-04-11	Jerry Grote	NYM	CIN	Wayne Granger	tied 0-0	b11	---	0	Home Run
17	1971-06-08	Joe Pepitone	CHC	PIT	Mudcat Grant	tied 0-0	b12	---	2	Home Run
18	1971-07-15	Rico Petrocelli	BOS	MIN	Stan Williams	tied 0-0	b13	12-	2	Home Run; Smith Scores; Yastrzemski Scores
19	1972-06-16	Jim Wynn	HOU	PHI	Dick Selma	tied 0-0	b11	---	0	Home Run
20	1974-06-28 (2)	Dusty Baker	ATL	CIN	Don Gullett	tied 0-0	b10	---	1	Home Run
21	1975-05-19	Johnny Grubb	SDP	STL	John Curtis	tied 0-0	b10	---	1	Home Run
22	1975-09-22	Adrian Garrett	CAL	CHW	Rich Gossage	tied 0-0	b16	12-	1	Home Run; Stanton Scores; Chalk Scores
23	1976-06-17	Dave Kingman	NYM	LAD	Charlie Hough	tied 0-0	b14	---	1	Home Run

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/22/2013.

(1977-1999)

Yr#	Date	Batter	Tm	Opp	Pitcher	Score	Inn	RoB	Out	Pitch	Play Description
24	1978-04-13	Joe Rudi	CAL	MIN	Tom Johnson	tied 0-0	b11	---	1		Home Run
25	1980-07-04	George Hendrick	STL	PHI	Kevin Saucier	tied 0-0	b10	---	1		Home Run
26	1980-07-18	Dave Stapleton	BOS	MIN	Roger Erickson	tied 0-0	b10	---	1		Home Run
27	1981-06-03	Graig Nettles	NYY	BAL	Tippy Martinez	tied 0-0	b11	-2-	2		Home Run; Winfield Scores
28	1985-06-06	Buck Martinez	TOR	DET	Aurelio Lopez	tied 0-0	b12	1--	1		Home Run; Bell Scores
29	1986-07-22	Glenn Davis	HOU	MON	Floyd Youmans	tied 0-0	b10	---	0		Home Run
30	1990-09-06	Bip Roberts	SDP	HOU	Juan Agosto	tied 0-0	b10	12-	2	4 (1-2)	Home Run (LF-CF); Templeton Scores; Santiago Scores
31	1991-09-07	Tim Teufel	SDP	STL	Cris Carpenter	tied 0-0	b10	---	0	6 (3-2)	Home Run (Line Drive to Deep LF); Teufel Scores
32	1996-04-06	Terry Pendleton	FLA	SFG	Mark Dewey	tied 0-0	b10	---	0	5 (2-2)	Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep LF Line)
33	1997-07-12	Mark Smith	PIT	HOU	John Hudek	tied 0-0	b10	12-	2	2 (0-1)	Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep LF); Kendall Scores; Ward Scores
34	1998-09-26 (2)	Alex Gonzalez	FLA	PHI	Ricky Bottalico	tied 0-0	b13	---	1	4 (1-2)	Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep LF)

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/22/2013.

(2000-)

Yr#	Date	Batter	Tm	Opp	Pitcher	Score	Inn	RoB	Out	Pitch	Play Description
35	2001-09-02	Ryan Klesko	SDP	ARI	Byung-Hyun Kim	tied 0-0	b13	---	0	1 (0-0)	Home Run (Fly Ball)
36	2002-09-27	Paul Lo Duca	LAD	SDP	Jeremy Fikac	tied 0-0	b10	---	0	1 (0-0)	Home Run (Fly Ball)
37	2006-06-14	Adam Dunn	CIN	MIL	Danny Kolb	tied 0-0	b11	12-	1	5 (2-2)	Home Run (Fly Ball to CF-RF); Griffey Scores; Aurilia Scores
38	2006-08-13	Russell Martin	LAD	SFG	Vinnie Chulk	tied 0-0	b10	---	0	2 (1-0)	Home Run (Fly Ball)
39	2006-09-06	Paul McAnulty	SDP	COL	Nate Field	tied 0-0	b11	-2-	1	2 (1-0)	Home Run (Fly Ball); Walker Scores
40	2007-05-09	Aubrey Huff	BAL	TBD	Brian Stokes	tied 0-0	b10	---	1	3 (1-1)	Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep LF-CF)
41	2008-06-13	Chad Tracy	ARI	KCR	Yasuhiko  Yabuta	tied 0-0	b10	---	1	4 (0-2)	Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep RF Line)
42	2009-08-07	Alex Rodriguez	NYY	BOS	Junichi Tazawa	tied 0-0	b15	1--	2	4 (2-1)	Home Run (Line Drive to Deep LF-CF); Jeter Scores
43	2010-06-01	Matt Kemp	LAD	ARI	J.C. Gutierrez	tied 0-0	b10	---	1	5 (2-2)	Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep LF)
44	2010-09-13	Reid Brignac	TBR	NYY	Sergio Mitre	tied 0-0	b11	---	0	6 (3-2)	Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep RF)
45	2011-09-05	Brett Lawrie	TOR	BOS	Dan Wheeler	tied 0-0	b11	---	2	3 (1-1)	Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep LF-CF)
46	2013-07-21	Caleb Gindl	MIL	MIA	Ryan Webb	tied 0-0	b13	---	0	2 (1-0)	Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep LF Line)

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/22/2013

(New addition)

Yr#	Date ▾	Batter	Tm	Opp	Pitcher	Score	Inn	RoB	Out	Pitch	Play Description
47	2013-07-28	Yasiel Puig	LAD	CIN	Curtis Partch	tied 0-0	b11	---	2	2 (0-1)	Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep LF)

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/29/2013.

One game on this list jumps out at me as particularly special. On July 12, 1997, Pirates righty Francisco Cordova pitched nine hitless innings against the Astros. However, the Pittsburgh offense couldn't scOne game on this list jumps out at me as particularly special. On July 12, 1997, Pirates righty Francisco Cordova pitched nine hitless innings against the Astros. However, the Pittsburgh offense couldn't scratch together a run against Chris Holt and Billy Wagner, the game went into extra innings. Cordova threw 121 pitches and was replaced by Ricardo Rincon. He walked a batter, but put up another zero in the tenth to keep the no-hitter alive. With two on and two outs in the bottom of the tenth, Mark Smith pinch-hit for Rincon and blasted a three-run walk-off no-hitter-clinching home run.


There have been two postseason games that were scoreless until a game-ending home run, but both blows were struck in the bottom of the ninth. Tommy Henrich won the first game of the 1949 World Series with a solo shot off Don Newcombe, and Game Five of the 2004 NLCS ended on Jeff Kent's homer off Jason Isringhausen.

There have been two postseason extra-inning homers that broke a 0-0 deadlock, but both were hit by the visiting team and thus would not make this list. The first was Tito Landrum s tenth-inning solo homer off Britt Burns that won Game Four of the 1983 ALCS (and the pennant) for the Orioles. The other was a pennant-winner at Baltimore's expense as Tony Fernandez took Armando Benitez deep in the 11th inning of Game Six of the 1997 ALCS to clinch the A.L. for the Indians.