Expert: Tony Hutchens - 5/12/2004

Question
I believe that David Cone once struck out the side on 9 straight pitches (in the early nineties).  I seem to recall hearing that this is more rare than a perfect game.  Can you confirm?

Answer
Yes, David...I can confirm. You are correct that David Cone once struck out the side on 9 straight pitches in the early 90's. It came on August 30, 1991 according to ESPN's career notes on David found here:

http://espn.go.com/mlb/profiles/notes/3895.html

And yes...according to another web site that I found (GatorBlog), that feat is indeed more rare than a perfect game. They tell of the time that Pedro Martinez accomplished the feat in 2002 for only the 35th time in major league history - not only more rare than perfect games, but also more rare than no-hitters:

http://www.davidgagne.net/football/archives/2002_05.shtml