Tapp-ing into the Numbers: Nelson breaks through with complete game

BY JERRY TAPP

Last Sunday, June 18, on Father’s Day, Jimmy Nelson gave the Brewers their first complete game of the season, a 2-1 win over the Padres. It was Nelson’s first career complete game after 88 career starts with the Brewers.

With his previous 88 starts without a complete game, Nelson sat atop the list of Brewers pitchers with the most starts for the team without a complete game. That honor now belongs to Manny Parra, who had 74 starts with the Brewers without a complete game.

Here’s a look at the Brewers starting pitchers who have started the most games in team history without a complete game in the stat column.

Brewers pitchers with most starts without a complete game
Manny Parra … 74
Marco Estrada … 70
Chris Narveson … 62
Jimmy Haynes … 62
Mike Fiers … 56
Shawn Marcum … 54

A pair of current Brewers hurlers, Zach Davies and Chase Anderson, could soon be joining the above list. Davies now has 49 starts in a Brewers uniform without a complete game while Anderson is close behind with 45.

Nelson now has 90 career starts and one complete game. Of all Milwaukee pitchers with just one complete game in their careers, Nelson is third on that list with the most starts with one complete game. Jeff Suppan had 97 starts for the Brew Crew and only complete game, most in that stat category. He is followed by Randy Wolf who had 91 starts and one complete game. Another current Brewers pitcher, Matt Garza is fourth on this list; he has started 81 games for the Brewers in his career and has only one complete game.

If we widen the scope to look at all MLB teams, here are the leaders in most career starts with no complete games in their careers, and those with the most starts with only one complete game in their career:

Most MLB career starts with no complete games:

Bud Norris, 185  … Tony Armas Jr., 167 … Wei-Yen Chen, 144 … Marco Estrada, 142 … Shawn Chacon, 134 … Travis Wood, 133. Norris, Chen, Estrada and Wood are all active players.

Most MLB career starts with one career complete game: Erik Bedard, 230 … Chris Young, 221. Young is still active, pitching for the Kansas City Royals.

One final stat: Nelson’s complete game last weekend was the fourth for the Brewers since the start of the 2014 season. It moved them out of a four-team tie for fewest complete games since ’14. The Orioles, Marlins and Nets each have four complete games in that time frame, the Brewers and Rays each have only five complete games.

The Giants have the most complete games since 2014 with 27. They are followed by the Indians with 25.