Kerry Wood strikes out 20 in 1998: Game thread

On May 6, 1998, a rainy Wednesday in Chicago, Kerry Wood struck out 20 Astros in his fifth MLB start.

Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. CT, ESPN is rebroadcasting this game. The ESPN timeslot is just two hours, but the game itself ran 2:19, so likely not too much of it will be condensed.

By request, I’m setting up this thread so that you can comment as if the game were being televised live. Don’t forget that we have a Cubs/Brewers simulated game coming up at 3 p.m. CT. This broadcast will be over at that time. The simulated game post will post at 2:30 p.m. CT.

Wood’s Game Score for this game was 105. That’s the highest Game Score for a nine-inning game in MLB history. The next-highest is 104, by Max Scherzer in a 17-strikeout no-hitter October 3, 2015. Wood’s game is arguably the most dominant in the history of baseball. He allowed one hit, a ball that was booted and likely should have been called an error.

Also notable about this game was the catcher, Sandy Martinez, as shown above. He was a journeyman who the Cubs acquired for a minor leaguer from Toronto before the 1998 season.

Martinez played in only 45 games for the Cubs and started just 20, but was the catcher for this memorable game. On the day of this game, Martinez had not played — at all — in almost two weeks. But he goes down in history along with Wood.

Enjoy this rebroadcast of a game from 22 years ago and discuss amongst yourselves!