May 7, 2010: At age 47, Jamie Moyer dominates Braves with historic two-hit shutout

At the start of the 2010 season, 47-year-old Jamie Moyer began his fourth decade as a major-league pitcher, an accomplishment that placed him among the most enduring players in the history of the game.1

A native of Souderton, Pennsylvania, Moyer was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the sixth round of the June 1984 amateur draft from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. Two years later, on June 16, 1986, he debuted in Chicago with a win over his hometown Phillies,2 and on August 16 tossed his first complete-game shutout against the Expos in Montreal.

Moyer won 28 games in three seasons with the Cubs before embarking on a journey that saw him pitch for five different teams over the next 17 seasons. That winding path eventually brought him home when the Phillies acquired him from the Seattle Mariners in an August 2006 trade.3 He won 16 games for the 2008 World Series champion Phillies, but when Philadelphia signed Pedro Martínez in July 2009, Moyer was bumped from the starting rotation. By spring training 2010, however, he reclaimed his spot by outdueling Kyle Kendrick for the fifth starter’s job.4

Moyer made his sixth start of the season on May 7, when the last-place Atlanta Braves opened a weekend series in Philadelphia against the National East Division-leading Phillies. He had pitched six innings in each of his first five starts, including a win over the Braves in Atlanta on April 26, and entered the Friday night rematch with a 5.70 ERA. 

The Braves arrived shorthanded and in the midst of offensive struggles. Three regular starting players — shortstop Yunel Escobar, catcher Brian McCann, and rookie outfielder Jason Heyward — were on the disabled list and their team batting average was .237.5 Second baseman Martín Prado was the only starter in the lineup hitting over .300, and all three starting outfielders were scuffling with averages below .200.

Moyer wasted little time asserting control. He retired the top of the Braves order on 11 pitches in the first inning and was even more efficient in the second. Troy Glaus singled on the inning’s first pitch but was erased on a double play grounder on Moyer’s next delivery. One pitch later, David Ross grounded to short to end the inning. Watching Moyer’s brisk work, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel remarked, “Hey man, he has a chance to get through seven innings tonight.”6

Atlanta countered with veteran right-hander Derek Lowe, who had been Moyer’s teammate 13 years earlier with the 1997 Mariners. A reliever early in his career, Lowe won 21 games for the Boston Red Sox in 2002, his first full year as a starter. He signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Dodgers prior to the 2005 season, then joined Atlanta four years later. In 2009 he led the NL in hits surrendered and entered the game carrying a 5.18 ERA.

Lowe ran into early trouble but escaped damage in the first inning. Plácido Polanco doubled with one out, and Chase Utley followed with a walk. Ryan Howard moved the runners along with a groundout, but Lowe ended the threat by striking out Jayson Werth. In the second, Raúl Ibañez and Carlos Ruiz opened with back-to-back singles but shortstop Wilson Valdéz — starting in place of the injured Jimmy Rollins — hit into a double play and Moyer struck out looking.

Moyer retired Atlanta quickly again in the top of the third, and Philadelphia’s offense broke through in the bottom half. Utley and Howard had two-out line-drive singles. Werth, who had blasted a three-run homer in the first inning of the previous night’s game in St. Louis delivered again, launching a long home run to put the Phillies ahead 3-0. The homer was Werth’s sixth of the young season.

Moyer continued to cruise through the fourth and fifth innings, aided by sparkling defense. Leading off the fourth, center fielder Shane Victorino made a running underhanded catch in deep right-center off the bat of Omar Infante, robbing him of at least a double. To end the top of the fifth, first baseman Howard made an over-the-shoulder basket catch of Ross’ pop fly drifting down the right-field line.7 Between those two defensive gems, Moyer recorded four quick outs.

The Phillies broke the game open in the fifth. Polanco, Utley and Howard all singled after one out to load the bases. Werth popped out, but Ibañez lined a single to left, scoring Polanco and Utley. Howard advanced to third and Ibañez to second on the throw from the outfield.

Ruiz was intentionally walked to reload the bases, and Valdéz followed with a groundball single up the middle, plating two more runs. Moyer grounded out to end the inning with the Phillies firmly in control, 7-0. Lowe departed after five innings, charged with seven runs on 11 hits, and his ERA climbed to 6.16. “I think we’re all kind of waiting, me included, to get turned around and get back to playing like I feel we should be,” Lowe said later.8

Moyer struck out three of the six batters he faced across the sixth and seventh innings. Brandon Hicks, batting for Lowe, struck out swinging on four pitches to end the sixth. Hicks was making his major league debut. “If (a rookie) doesn’t hit a first pitch that’s up (against Moyer), … “He’s in for an education,” said Manuel.9

Two rookie pitchers took the mound for Atlanta in the middle innings. Left-hander Johnny Venters walked Utley with two outs in the sixth, but struck out Howard to end the inning. frame. In the seventh, 22-year-old Craig Kimbrel, making his major-league debut, surrendered a double to Werth before striking out Ibañez and Ruiz and retiring Valdez on a grounder to second. Kimbrel’s scoreless inning was the first in a long career; through 2025 he had 440 saves in 16 seasons.

Glaus led off the eighth with a ground-ball single to left, just the second hit of the day for Atlanta, snapping Moyer’s streak of 17 consecutive outs. Unfazed, Moyer retired the next three Braves hitters in order. 

Moyer then led off the bottom of the eighth against new Braves reliever Jesse Chavez and was greeted by a standing ovation from the sellout crowd.10 “This kind of stuff pushed me. I enjoy this. This is what it’s all about,” Moyer said later.11 He flied out to shallow left and Chavez retired Victorino and Polanco. When Moyer emerged from the dugout for the ninth inning, the crowd rose once more.

Nine pitches later the two-hit, 105-pitch 7-0 win was complete. At 47 years, 170 days, Moyer became the oldest pitcher to throw a complete game shutout, surpassing the previous record held by former Braves pitcher Phil Niekro, who was 46 years, 118 days when he earned his 300th career win by blanking the Toronto Blue Jays for the New York Yankees on the final day of the 1985 season.12 Moyer also became the only pitcher to throw shutouts in four decades. “That’s impressive regardless of how old you are,” teammate Roy Halladay said.13

Moyer started 14 more games in 2010. He finished the season with a 9-9 record, helping the Phillies secure their fourth straight division title. After missing the 2011 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery Moyer made a brief comeback in 2012 with the Colorado Rockies, recording the final two wins of his long career. “I feel like there is plenty of time when I retire to reflect on things,” Moyer said.14 Colorado released him at the end of May, and at the age of 49, his remarkable career finally came to an end.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Bruce Slutsky and copy-edited by Keith Thursby.

Photo credit: Jamie Moyer, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for information including the box score and play-by-play.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHI/PHI201005070.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2010/B05070PHI2010.htm

Notes

1 Moyer is one of 31 players in major-league history who have played in four decades. David Adler and Andrew Simon, “These MLB Careers Spanned 4 Decades,” MLB.com, January 7, 2022, https://www.mlb.com/news/four-decade-players-c300996490.

2 The losing pitcher in that game was 41-year-old future Hall of Famer Steve Carlton, who had made his major-league debut in April 1965, when Moyer was 2. two years old.

3 Philadelphia traded minor-leaguers Andy Baldwin and Andrew Bard to Seattle on August 19, 2006 for Moyer.

4 Rob Maaddi, “Moyer the Magnificent,” Easton (Pennsylvania) Express-Times, May 8, 2010: D5.

5 Martin Frank, “Moyer Goes 9 in 2-Hit Shutout,” Camden (New Jersey) Courier-Post, May 8, 2010: D1.

6 Matt Gelb, “For Moyer, It Never Gets Old,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 8, 2010: E1.

7 Michael McGarry, “Moyer’s Gem Latest Chapter in an Old Story,” Press of Atlantic City, May 8, 2010: D1.

8 David O’Brien, “Veteran Moyer Two-Hits Atlanta,” Atlanta Constitution, May 8, 2010: 1C.

9 McGarry.

10 Chavez was in his third major-league season in 2010. He pitched for nine clubs in 18 seasons before retiring in 2025.

11 McGarry.

12 O’Brien.

13 Gelb.

14 David Murphy, “Moyer Beats Braves With 2-Hit Shutout,” Philadelphia Daily News, May 8, 2010: 34.