With another quality start on Monday night in Philadelphia, the St. Louis Cardinals rotation would establish their longest string of quality starts since 1973.
The “quality start” is a stat that is not universally loved. The term is tagged to a starting outing if the pitcher lasts at least six innings and allows three or fewer runs. In reaching the minimum innings with the maximum runs yielded, the resulting 4.50 ERA would hardly be exemplary, critics observe.
Yet in 2010, the five members of the St. Louis Cardinals rotation have been pitching much better than that. Through Chris Carpenter’s seven shutout inning outing against Cincinnati on Sunday, the club has put together a string of 11 consecutive quality starts. The ace started the run, had one in the middle and logged the most recent one as well. The team is 8-3 over their last 11 games.
11 ties the longest run for the Cardinals rotation since 1973. At this exact time of year in 2003, the starters had an 11-game quality streak with Matt Morris as the anchor. So did the group starting in July 1989 led by Jose DeLeon and Joe Magrane.
So far, the longest number of consecutive quality starts researcher Tom Orf has located is 14 in May/June 1973, a time long before the term “quality start” was first coined. 37-year-old Bob Gibson was joined by Rick Wise, Reggie Cleveland, Scipio Spinks and Alan Foster.
The Cardinals have their work cut out for them this week as they head into Philadelphia for a four-game series. Jaime Garcia starts the opener on Monday night, followed by Adam Wainwright, Brad Penny and Kyle Lohse. If they can keep the string going beyond 14, we will try to determine if the Cardinals had a longer run prior to 1973.
Cardinals Starting Pitchers, Consecutive Starts 6+ IP, 3 ER or less, 1973-present
| 11 games | Date | Opp | Rslt | App,Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR |
| Chris Carpenter | 5/2/2010 | CIN | W 6-0 | GS-7 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 0 |
| Kyle Lohse | 5/1/2010 | CIN | W 6-3 | GS-7 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| Brad Penny | 4/30/2010 | CIN | L 2-3 | GS-6 ,L | 6 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 0 |
| Adam Wainwright | 4/29/2010 | ATL | W 10-4 | GS-6 ,W | 6 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| Jaime Garcia | 4/28/2010 | ATL | W 6-0 | GS-7 ,W | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Chris Carpenter | 4/27/2010 | ATL | W 5-4 | GS-6 ,W | 6 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| Kyle Lohse | 4/26/2010 | ATL | W 4-3 | GS-6 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Brad Penny | 4/25/2010 | SFG | W 2-0 | GS-8 ,W | 7.2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Adam Wainwright | 4/24/2010 | SFG | L 0-2 | CG 8 ,L | 8 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| Jaime Garcia | 4/23/2010 | SFG | L 1-4 | GS-6 ,L | 6 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Chris Carpenter | 4/21/2010 | ARI | W 9-4 | GS-8 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 0 |
| 11 games | Date | Opp | Rslt | App,Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR |
| Matt Morris | 5/4/2003 | MON | W 6-2 | CG 9 ,W | 9 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 0 |
| Garrett Stephenson | 5/3/2003 | MON | W 3-1 | GS-8 ,W | 8 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 0 |
| Jason Simontacchi | 5/2/2003 | MON | W 8-1 | GS-8 ,W | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Brett Tomko | 5/1/2003 | NYM | W 6-5 | GS-7 | 6.1 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Woody Williams | 4/30/2003 | NYM | W 13-4 | GS-7 ,W | 7 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| Matt Morris | 4/29/2003 | NYM | W 13-3 | GS-6 ,W | 6 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| Garrett Stephenson | 4/27/2003 | FLA | W 7-6 | GS-8 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 0 |
| Jason Simontacchi | 4/26/2003 | FLA | L 3-5 | GS-7 | 6.1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Brett Tomko | 4/25/2003 | FLA | W 9-2 | CG 9 ,W | 9 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Woody Williams | 4/24/2003 | ATL | L 3-4 | GS-7 | 6.1 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| Matt Morris | 4/23/2003 | ATL | L 2-4 | GS-7 ,L | 7 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| 11 games | Date | Opp | Rslt | App,Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR |
| Jose DeLeon | 7/31/1989 | NYM | W 3-2 | GS-8 ,W | 7.2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 0 |
| Joe Magrane | 7/30/1989 | MON | W 8-3 | GS-9 ,W | 8.2 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
| Ken Hill | 7/29/1989 | MON | L 0-2 | CG 8 ,L | 8 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Ted Power | 7/28/1989 | MON | W 2-0 | GS-7 ,W | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Jose DeLeon | 7/26/1989 | CHC | W 2-0 | GS-8 ,W | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 0 |
| Joe Magrane | 7/25/1989 | CHC | L 2-4 | GS-7 ,L | 7 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 0 |
| Scott Terry | 7/24/1989 | CHC | L 2-3 | GS-7 ,L | 7 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Ken Hill | 7/23/1989 | SDP | W 3-2 | GS-6 ,W | 6 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| Ted Power | 7/22/1989 | SDP | W 5-2 | GS-7 ,W | 6.2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Jose DeLeon | 7/21/1989 | SDP | W 5-0 | GS-7 ,W | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| Joe Magrane | 7/20/1989 | SDP | W 7-1 | GS-8 ,W | 8 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0 |
| 14 games | Date | Opp | Rslt | App, Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR |
| Bob Gibson | 6/6/1973 | SDP | W 6-3 | CG 9 ,W | 9 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 1 |
| Alan Foster | 6/5/1973 | SDP | W 5-3 | GS-8 | 7.2 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| Scipio Spinks | 6/3/1973 | HOU | W 2-1 | GS-8 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| Rick Wise | 6/2/1973 | HOU | W 6-2 | CG 9 ,W | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| Reggie Cleveland | 6/1/1973 | HOU | W 4-2 | GS-7 ,W | 7 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Bob Gibson | 5/31/1973 | CIN | L 2-3 | CG 9 ,L | 9 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 1 |
| Alan Foster | 5/30/1973 | CIN | W 5-2 | GS-7 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 2 |
| Scipio Spinks | 5/29/1973 | CIN | W 2-0 | GS-6 ,W | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 0 |
| Rick Wise | 5/28/1973 | ATL | W 3-2 | GS-8 ,W | 8 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Reggie Cleveland | 5/27/1973 | ATL | W 5-4 | GS-7 ,W | 7 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Bob Gibson | 5/26/1973 | ATL | W 2-0 | SHO8 ,W | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 0 |
| Alan Foster | 5/25/1973 | ATL | W 4-1 | CG 9 ,W | 9 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| Rick Wise | 5/22/1973 | NYM | W 5-3 | GS-9 ,W | 8 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 0 |
| Reggie Cleveland | 1973-05-20 (2) | MON | W 7-3 | GS-9 ,W | 8 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
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