The Milwaukee Brewers played a crisp 2-hour, 9-minute game Wednesday in a 4-0 win over the Houston Astros, marking the shortest game at American Family Field/Miller Park since Sept. 6, 2008, when the Brewers beat the Padres, 1-0, and Ben Sheets outdueled Jake Peavy in a battle of aces.
In the age of the pitch clock, games in Major League Baseball are down to an average of 2 hours, 39 minutes, a drop of 27 minutes from last season and the lowest average since 1984.
A Brewers game in Boston on July 17, 1971, lasted only 1 hour, 36 minutes, although that one doesn’t count — the 5-3 loss was called after six innings because of rain. So among nine-inning games, what are the shortest in Brewers history? Here’s a sampling, though we’ll stick to just home games:
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Shortest home games in Brewers history
April 20, 1973: Brewers 2, New York Yankees 0 (1 hour, 42 minutes)
The intimate gathering of 8,348 fans barely had time to sit down for the fastest nine-inning game (home or road) in club history. The Brewers had only two hits but made them count — a single by Darrell Porter and a two-run homer by Dave May three batters later. The Brewers only walked once, but Jim Slaton was just as effective in throwing a complete-game shutout for the Crew, allowing five hits and one walk.
May 6, 1979: Brewers 4, Toronto 0 (1 hour, 44 minutes)
This was a much bigger crowd (53,962), and the Brewers actually amassed 10 hits. Robin Yount homered, Sixto Lezcano had two run-scoring hits and Lary Sorensen allowed just four hits and a walk in nine innings.
August 1, 1971: Brewers 3, Washington 2 (1 hour, 49 minutes)
Skip Lockwood allowed a couple runs on five hits and two walks but went the distance, and Bobby Mitchell’s two-run home run in the sixth proved to be the difference in the second game of a doubleheader sweep. In the first game, Mitchell hit a three-run homer in the third that helped the Brewers prevail, 4-3.
August 4, 1976: Brewers 4, New York Yankees 3 (1 hour, 50 minutes)
Doubleheader games just moved faster. Milwaukee scored all its runs in the third, and New York scored all of its runs in the third on Thurman Munson’s three-run blast. But Bill Travers only allowed five hits total in a complete-game win, outdueling Catfish Hunter. The Yankees got even in the nightcap, 7-2.
Sept. 17, 1974: Brewers 3, Cleveland 2 (1 hour, 53 minutes)
Jim Colborn worked into the ninth and Tom Murphy locked down his 20th save of the year after the tying run reached base. Bob Hansen’s single in the seventh broke a 2-2 tie.
June 17, 1985: Brewers 2, Blue Jays 1 (1 hour, 54 minutes)
Moose Haas allowed only one unearned run on three hits with no walks and outdueled Dave Stieb, who allowed a rare Jim Gantner home run in the sixth to account for the winning run. Gantner hit only five homers that season.
OK, so we’ve established that games moved faster in the 1970s and 1980s. What about from the ’90s to now?
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Fastest home games in the 1990s
October 1, 1995: Brewers 8, Boston 1 (1 hour, 57 minutes)
Dave Nilsson’s two-run homer in the first set the tone against knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, and Nilsson later added a double. When John Jaha hit a three-run homer in the eighth, it was an 8-0 blowout, and Scott Karl finished the complete-game after allowing a leadoff homer in the ninth.
July 29, 1997: Brewers 2, Blue Jays 0 (2 hours, 1 minute)
It’s not the one you’re thinking. In the first game of a doubleheader, Jose Mercedes allowed three hits in seven innings, and Gerald Williams provided all the offense with a two-run homer in the fifth. This came one day after Steve Woodard’s unforgettable debut in a 1-0 win over Toronto in the first game of another doubleheader, although that game went 2 hours and 17 minutes.
Fastest games of the 2000s
Sept. 6, 2006: Dodgers 2, Brewers 1 (2 hours, 4 minutes)
Chris Capuano worked eight strong innings but Derek Lowe one-upped him. Matt Kemp’s RBI single in the seventh broke a 1-1 tie, and Kemp also tripled leading off the fifth and later scored an earlier run to tie.
May 7, 2007: Brewers 3, Washington 0 (2 hours, 5 minutes)
Geoff Jenkins hit a three-run homer in the second, and that was all the scoring for the day. Chris Capuano allowed seven hits but no walks in eight innings, and Francisco Cordero locked down the save.
Fastest games of the 2010s and beyond (aside from Wednesday)
May 17, 2016: Brewers 4, Cubs 2 (2 hours, 10 minutes)
Chase Anderson took a no-hitter into the eighth, when Ben Zobrist led off the frame with a double. Anderson was forced to leave one out shy of a complete game after allowing back-to-back homers to Jason Heyward and Kris Bryant, but Jeremy Jeffress locked it down by striking out Anthony Rizzo. Jonathan Lucroy homered for the Brewers, and Chris Carter had a two-run double.
July 26, 2010: Brewers 3, Reds 2 (2 hours, 10 minutes)
Randy Wolf worked seven innings and Rickie Weeks hit a two-run homer in the third to tie the game. Jim Edmonds gave the Brewers the lead in thrilling fashion with a two-out homer against starter Bronson Arroyo in the eighth.
Special thanks to baseball-reference.com for the data.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: The Brewers played a fast game Wednesday, putting it on this list