What's lost in the shuffle is that the Astros pitcher that day, Shane Reynolds, pitched an 8 inning CG with 1 earned run and 10 K's. The 30 combined strikeouts that game might just be a major league record. Great thread. I haven't googled this yet, but my instinct tells me that the record is 33, and that Randy Johnson was involved. I'm pretty sure he was in AZ, so this could have been a record at the time. I remember watching a little bit of his ML debut in Montreal (was this the same game that Kent Bottenfield beaned Andy Stankowiecz (sp?) in the face?) and wondering if he was going to be any good, then coming home from school on May 6 and seeing him being interviewed after a game in which he apparently had 15 Ks thru seven. I was always a very openly stated Cubs fan, but this was the exact day I bacame the hopeless mess I am today. EDIT -- I still haven't found anything definitive on the combined Ks in a game. There was a game in 97 in which 33 people from both the A's and Angels K'd in a 15-inning game (this tied a record, one which I again couldn't find), but that's not quite the same thing. I'm very curious now. I'm also hoping that the number 33 didn't come to mind because of Kerry Wood's 2-game K total thanks to striking out 13 in his following start. The major league record for strikeouts in a game is 43, in a 20 inning game between the Angels and the A's in 1971. Link to box The major league record for strikeouts in 9 innings is 31, in a 1997 game between the Mariners (Unit starting) and Rangers. Link to box Wood's 20 K game remains the NL record for combined K's in a 9 inning game.