June 24, 2000: Colorado Rockies 4, Arizona Diamondbacks 0

Jan 6, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks former pitcher R. Johnson reacts as he speaks at a press conference to discuss his induction into the baseball Hall of Fame at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Fifteen years ago today, the Colorado Rockies defeated Randy Johnson and the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-0, thanks to good pitching and just enough offense when it mattered.

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By most people’s standards, Randy Johnson had a special year in 2000 as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks. By his own inflated standards, it was just another season — one in which he’d win his second of four consecutive Cy Young Awards, and where he only won 19 games. (In his career, Johnson had three 20-plus win seasons and three more 19-game winners.)

The 2000 Colorado Rockies, though, did well to beat Johnson fifteen years ago today, especially considering Masato Yoshii started for the Rockies and Johnson won his other two starts that year versus the club, including one complete game shutout.

But on this day, fifteen years ago, the Rockies beat Johnson 4-0, and four Rox hurlers threw a shutout in Arizona, with Yoshii tossing the first 5.2 innings. (That scoreless outing lowered his ERA to 5.07; don’t you miss the pre-humidor days of Coors Field?)

Gabe White, Mike Myers, and Jose Jimenez closing things out for the Rockies. Johnson fell to 11-2, and raised his ERA to 1.60 by the game’s end.

Against Johnson, the Rockies squeaked by with a run in the fourth inning — on a Jeff Cirillo sacrifice fly — and three fifth inning runs, including an RBI double by Tom Goodwin that drove in Yoshii, after he (remember, he’s the pitcher!!!) singled off Johnson.

Manager Buddy Bell and the Rockies improved to 39-30 with the win, pushing them to just a game behind Johnson and the Diamondbacks in the NL West standings.

The Rockies would go on to finish 82-80, one of their seven seasons in club history above .500, though it was only good enough for fourth place in the division. The Diamondbacks won 85 games and finished in third place that season.

So how unlikely was it that the Rockies, and Yoshii, would beat Johnson?

Well, there are some crazy notes about the unlikeliness of the Rockies’ 4-0 win fifteen years ago today:

In 35 starts in 2000, Johnson only allowed four or more runs six times. Two were against the Rockies — this one, and a game in September that Johnson and the Diamondbacks won 19-6.
Five days after this start, Johnson struck out 13 Astros, and allowed five hits and a run in eight innings.
Johnson only struck out six Rockies in seven innings in this game. He struck out more batters than innings pitched in 32 of his other 34 starts that year.
Interestingly, in his April start against the Rockies, he only struck out 8 Rox in nine innings — one of only two other starts all season where he struck out fewer hitters than innings pitched. (He did throw a complete game shutout in that April start, though.)
After losing this June 24 game, Johnson didn’t lose another start until July 25.
Yoshii made 29 starts for the Rockies in 2000. He allowed runs in 28 of them. Yep.
Yoshii allowed 201 hits in 167.1 innings in 2000. Johnson allowed 202 hits in 248.2 innings.
Johnson threw eight complete games in 2000. Yoshii had eight starts where he threw seven or more innings (and no complete games).
The 2000 Rockies allowed zero runs in a game only twice in 2000 — this game against Johnson, and September 13, when they beat the San Diego Padres 11-0.
After this game, Yoshii, who was 35 years old after a successful career in Japan, threw in 88 more games in his big league career. Johnson, who was 36 years old, threw in another 271 games.
Yoshii’s fifth inning single off Johnson was one of only 25 hits he got in his career, in nearly 250 plate appearances (he slashed .123/.164/.152 in his career).

I know, Yoshii bad, Johnson good, obvious blog is obvious. But it’s fun to look up — and highlight — just how insanely mismatched those two pitchers were coming into the game and throughout their careers.

But hey! They were mismatched on June 24, 2000, and it was in Yoshii’s favor! You can’t predict baseball.

June 24, 2000: Colorado Rockies 4, Arizona Diamondbacks 0

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