3 NL teams win with the minimum

07-03-2009 | AFP

First time in 33 years there were three 1-0 games in one league on the same day

Panama Star NEW YORK. One run was enough for a victory for three National League teams Wednesday, the first time in 33 years there were three 1-0 games in one league on the same day.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last time there were three 1-0 games in one league was Sept. 1, 1976, in the NL. On that day, St. Louis beat Cincinnati in 11 innings; Houston defeated Philadelphia; and New York beat San Francisco.

On Wednesday, the Mets, Dodgers and Reds came away with 1-0 victories. New York was the first to win with the minimum against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park.; the Los Angeles Dodgers were next up, beating the Colorado Rockies 1-0 at Chavez Ravine; and the Cincinnati Reds made it a hat trick of 1-0 games, beating the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The most notable difference between the three 1-0 games in 1976 and the ones on Wednesday: the number of pitchers used. The six teams on Wed. used 18 pitchers; the six teams that played on Sept. 1, 1976, used nine pitchers.