Kenta Maeda lights up the game score leaderboard

Phil Gurnee ♦ May 21, 2018 ♦ Leave a comment

Late Wednesday Night the Dodgers had just lost to the Marlins again and the pit of despair was looming large three thousand miles away in Los Angeles. The tunnel was dark and fans couldn’t see any glimmer of light as they tried to make their way into positive energy.  Just as the last rays of light were about to be snuffed out, Kenta Maeda of all people lit the torch that blinded the negative fans and gave the Dodgers the light they needed to find their way from Miami to Washington.

I was wondering in my previous article if this was the best game score that Kenta ever had, and here is the answer.

Yes, and it is not very close. Kenta has only had four game scores of 75 or better and only two game scores of eighty or better.  Personally, I liked the 13 strikeout game better but he only went seven innings.

With the Dodgers reeling, Kenta Maeda could not have picked a better time to pitch his best game as a Dodger. A few more games like this and Kenta might even have his own moment in the sun in the next version of Jon Weisman’s’ Brother in Arms.

Date         Opp  Rslt  IP H ER BB SO GSc IR
2018-05-17   MIA W 7-0 8.0 2  0  0  8     86
2016-07-10   SDP W 3-1 7.0 2  1  0 13     82
2017-08-01   ATL W 3-2 7.0 2  0  1  6     78
2017-06-27   LAA W 4-0 7.0 4  0  0  6     75

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/21/2018.

This was also one of the ten best games ever pitched by a Dodger against the Marlins in Miami. Quite the international flavor to this list. Ramon Martinez is the leader at 94, Clayton gets in the way at 92, but he followed by Nomo at 91, Ramon again at 88, Nomo again at 87, and then Kenta with his 86.

Player                  Date Opp  Rslt  IP H ER BB SO GSc
Ramon Martinez    1995-07-14 FLA W 7-0 9.0 0  0  1  8  94
Clayton Kershaw   2011-05-29 FLA W 8-0 9.0 2  0  1 10  92
Hideo Nomo        1996-04-13 FLA W 3-1 9.0 3  1  3 17  91
Ramon Martinez    1994-06-07 FLA W 2-0 9.0 3  0  0  7  88
Hideo Nomo        1995-07-15 FLA W 3-1 9.0 3  1  0 10  87
Kenta Maeda       2018-05-17 MIA W 7-0 8.0 2  0  0  8  86
Rich Hill         2016-09-10 MIA W 5-0 7.0 0  0  0  9  86
Kevin Brown       2001-05-07 FLA W 1-0 8.0 2  0  2 10  86
Chris Capuano     2012-08-12 MIA W 5-0 8.0 2  0  3 10  85
Pedro Astacio     1993-09-12 FLA W 1-0 9.0 5  0  2  7  82
Brad Penny        2007-05-07 FLA W 6-1 7.0 5  0  0 14  81
Kevin Brown       2002-05-11 FLA W 3-0 7.0 3  0  1 10  80

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/21/2018.