Godley’s four-strikeout inning puts him in Diamondbacks history
By Trisha Garcia
While the Arizona Diamondbacks faced, and ultimately lost to, the Chicago Cubs on Sunday, starting pitcher Zack Godley did something not many pitchers can say they’ve done.
In Sunday’s 7-2 loss to the Cubs, Godley threw four strikeouts in one inning, the first inning.
With two outs and a full-count, Godley threw a wild pitch on strike three and fell as his foot came down. The batter, Cubs catcher Victor Caratini, reached first base on the pitch. Kris Bryant also scored from second on the pitch.
Pitching four strikeouts in one inning is such a rare feat that is has only happened 87 times in Major League Baseball history, according to Baseball Almanac. Godley became only the second Diamondback to ever add such an odd statistic to his baseball career.
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Former Diamondbacks pitcher Oliver Perez also recorded four strikeouts in a single inning back in Sept. 2014 against the Milwaukee Brewers. The Cubs hadn’t allowed four strikeouts in one inning since 2015.
It gets a little more strange as Godley recorded this feat in the first inning of the game. It was just the eighth time in MLB history for the four strikeouts to come in the first inning.
Godley’s teammate and fellow starter Zack Grienke has also thrown four strikeouts in one inning, but not while he was in a Diamondbacks uniform. In fact, Greinke has done it more than one. The first time coming in 2012 while Greinke was with the Los Angeles Angels and the second in 2014 across the freeway while he was with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
For Godley, the four strikeouts added to his season total of 109. At 109 strikeouts, Godley doesn’t quite crack the top 10 for the National League but teammates Robbie Ray (151) and Zack Greinke (174) are the No. 9 and No. 3 spot, respectively.
While the team is headed to Houston to face the Astros in the last two games of a split “home and home” series, Godley’s next mound appearance will probably come on Friday against the Minnesota Twins. He will be looking to get back in the win column.
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