Ranking the eight D-backs complete-game shutouts in 1-0 wins

After today’s enthralling 1-0 win over the Cubs in Chicago, I posted the following:

Since I’m still very much hopped up on adrenaline after this game, I thought it might be fun to go through them all and look at what happened in each. How dominant were these outings? How did the runs score? The order below is definitely objective, so do not @ me! Factors taken into consideration include game score, strength of opponent, significance and personal whim. Links go to the SnakePit recap of the game, where there was one.

#8. Brian Anderson - 1998-09-03: 3 H, 0 BB, 4 SO, GS 85 @ PIT

The Diamondbacks’ inaugural season wasn’t memorable for much, but this was a lovely performance from Anderson. In terms of Win Probability, it was the best of them all, being worth a whopping 85.4%, which remains the best ever by an AZ pitcher [performances in this article are the top six]. A Matt Williams single in the third drove in the D-backs’ run, albeit in the kind of late-season contest between two teams below .500, which had “meaningless” written all over it.

#7. Brandon McCarthy - 2013-05-18: 3 H, 2 BB, 5 SO, GS 84 vs. MIA

McCarthy was staked to an early 1-0 lead here. As in, Gerardo Parra went deep on the first pitch of the game. That was it for scoring by either side. There was one hit with a runner in scoring position here. And it wasn’t by the D-backs, the Marlins having Derek Dietrich thrown out at home-plate by Parra in the bottom of the same inning. While not dominant, he was efficient, needing only 99 pitches for Arizona’s sole Maddux. Though the Marlins’ record fell to 11-32 after this, so no big.

#6. Javier Vázquez - 2005-05-22: 5 H, 0 BB, 7 SO, GS 84 @ DET

Vázquez had been on the receiving end of a terrible Opening Day start, a 16-6 shellacking by the Cubs, and after three starts owned an 11.77 ERA. But he rebounded to go 5-1 over his next seven with a 1.50 ERA, capped off by this gem. It was scoreless into the eighth, when Craig Counsell drove in Royce Clayton. The win did move Arizona back to the top of the NL West, though they spent only one more day there the rest of the way. Vázquez ended his sole year here with an ERA+ of exactly 100.

#5. Brandon Webb - 2007-08-11: 5 H, 1 BB, 10 SO, GS 86 vs. WSN

This was one of 32 games which the 2007 D-backs won by a single run, becoming the last team to reach the post-season despite being outscored by their opponents overall [as mentioned earlier today, that may change this year] Here, an RBI triple from Justin Upton scored Eric Byrnes for our run. This helped keep the D-backs on top of the NL West, but the Nationals were last in the East, so this was the kind of game you expected them to win, especially with Webb on the mound.

#4. Zac Gallen - 2023-09-08: 3 H, 1 BB, 9 K, GS 89 @ CHC

Well, this should be quite fresh in our memories, although there may be some recentness bias at work as well i.e. I’m still coming off the contact high from it. This one scores highly for being important in a post-season chase for the D-backs, and coming against a team who were similarly contending for a playoff spot. The way Arizona scored its run - on an overturned fly-out, becoming an RBI single in the eighth inning - is certainly memorable as well.

#3. Randy Johnson - 2000-04-09: 5 H, 0 BB, 13 SO, GS 90 vs. PIT

I expected to see the Big Unit more often here. After all, he is the franchise leader with 14 CGSOs - only Webb (8) and Curt Schilling (5) have more than two. But this was the only time he received a single run of support. It came in the bottom of the seventh, on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Lenny Harris. A K:BB of 13:0 is vintage, dominant Johnson, though it came so early in the season as to be almost inconsequential. The Pirates actually out-hit the Diamondbacks by a 5-4 margin, and also had the only extra-base hit.

#2. Patrick Corbin - 2018-04-17: 1 H, 1 BB, 8 K, GS 92 vs SFG

Missed it by that much. Corbin had a no-hitter going through two outs in the eighth, when Brandon Belt broke it up with a measly checked-swing infield single. That was it. The score was still 0-0 to that point, but with two outs in the ninth, David Peralta singled home Jarrod Dyson for the only run of the game. There were a couple of good defensive plays in this one, and the win improved Arizona’s record at that point to 12-4. Things kinda went downhill the rest of the year.

#1. Edwin Jackson - 2010-06-25: 0 H, 8 BB, 6 SO, GS 85 @ TBR

Arguably the most bizarre no-hitter ever, Jackson walking seven of the first thirteen batters he faced. Yet somehow, he kept at it, and an Adam LaRoche home-run in the second proved to be all the support he would need. Make no mistake, the Rays were good, with the third-best record in the AL on the day. But most remarkable? Jackson needed 149 pitches to complete his no-hitter that night in Tampa. No pitcher since 2005 (Livan Hernandez, natch) has thrown that many in any game. We truly will never see its like again.