All about 1-0 Games

Saturday was quite a day for shutouts. There were seven of them, including four by 1-0. The record for shutouts on a single day is eight (June 4, 1972, when a total of 16 games were played). The four 1-0 games tied the all-time record for the most in one day (September 18, 1915 which included Federal League games, and September 2, 2001).

The last 1-0 game of the day, in which the Cubs defeated the Giants, ended on a bases-loaded 3-2-3 DP. Thanks to the Baseball Reference Play Index, I found the only other game that ended in such a manner, and it also involved the Giants.

But back to the 1-0 games . . . the Cubs/Giants game was decided on a homer in the top of the ninth. That got me thinking as to the distribution of runs by top/bottom of each inning, and how many of those single runs came via the long ball.

There have been 3,441 1-0 shutouts of at least nine innings (with inning-by-inning scores available) between 1911 and 2012. Of these, 713 (20.7%) had a homer represent the single run.

Here is the half-inning breakdown of the runs scored in 1-0 shutouts, with homer information also provided. No surprise to see the third inning being the worst for scoring in these types of games: