By James Bailey
If you put much stock in game scores, Blue Jays rookie Scott Richmond had the best start of his brief big league career last night. Richmond recorded a 78 score in Toronto’s 7-1 victory over the Phillies. He allowed one run on five hits and a walk in eight innings and struck out a career best 11.
It was almost enough to make him forget about his woeful showing at the plate. Richmond, who had just two career at-bats coming into last night’s game, went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts. That may not be a true reflection of his hitting ability however. Jays skipper Cito Gaston ordered him not to swing his first couple of times up at bat. With Toronto’s entire preseason starting rotation on the DL, the team doesn’t want to take any unnecessary risks with fluke injuries.
Not many pitchers get the opportunity to strike out four times in a game, but it’s not as rare as you might think. Richmond was actually the fourth man to do it since the start of the 2007 season.
| Pitcher | K’s | Date |
| Ted Lilly, ChC | 5 | 6/30/08 |
| Justin Duchscherer, Oak | 4 | 6/17/08 |
| Ricky Nolasco, Fla | 4 | 8/2/08 |
| Scott Richmond, Tor | 4 | 6/17/09 |
Something about interleague play on the 17th of June that brings out the whiffs. Of course, none of these guys probably has any regrets about these games. They all won, and they all pitched well, which is why they were around long enough to strike out four or five times. Here are their lines:
| Opp. | Score | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | GS | |
| Lilly | SF | 9-2 | 8 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 63 |
| Duchscherer | Ariz | 15-1 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 74 |
| Nolasco | Col | 5-3 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 13 | 75 |
| Richmond | Phi | 7-1 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 78 |
So who needs a good hitting performance from their pitcher? The optimal batting line seems to be about 0-for-4 with a Golden Sombrero.
