Ernie Shore relieved Babe Ruth and retired all 26 batters faced for the longest perfect relief appearance.

Ernie Shore is mentioned in my previous post but deserves more prominence. Thus far, Shore has the only verifiable perfect (no base runners) relief appearance that I could find of more than 7 innings.

Perfect in relief: at least 7 innings. Stathead gives incorrect result. Friday, November 20, 2020

See the previous post:

Baseball Reference via Stathead: imperfect list of perfect games. Thursday, November 19, 2020 ...

Rk	Player	Date	Tm	Opp	Rslt	App,Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	UER	Pit	Str	GSc	IR	IS	BF	AB	2B	3B	IBB	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	PO	BK	WP	ERA	WPA	RE24	aLI	DFS(DK)	DFS(FD)
1	Ernie Shore	1917-06-23 (1)	BOS	WSH	W 4-0	SHO, W	9.0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0						26	26				0	0	0					0	0	0.00

...

The Ernie Shore game is famous. Babe Ruth started and walked the first batter and was ejected for arguing. Shore relieved, picked off Ruth's runner and retired 26 in a row. No play by play.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS191706231.shtml

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA	BF	GSc
Babe Ruth	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	2.35	1	49
Ernie Shore, W (7-4)	9	0	0	0	0	2	0	2.09	26
Team Totals	9	0	0	0	1	2	0	0.00	27	49

____________________

But "Play-by-play data not available for this game.", not even on retrosheet.org:

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1917/B06231BOS1917.htm

The SABR bio for Ernie Shore states the batter Ruth walked, Ray Morgan, was out stealing but caught stealing (CS) data even as late as 1917 was at best incomplete and there is no mention in the team summary for Washington, which was clearly no-hit that day by the Red Sox as Boston committed no errors. This, however, was listed for Washington:

BATTING - 
Team LOB: 0.

SABR bio on Ernie Shore, the best SABR bio I've read of any player:

Ernie Shore
This article was written by Jim Leeke

A towering Southern farm boy with the mind of an engineer, pitcher Ernie Shore is forever linked with Babe Ruth. Teammates on three clubs and in two World Series, they together tossed what many fans and some historians long considered a perfect game—albeit an odd one in which the Babe faced the first batter and Shore the final twenty-six.

Ruth stayed in the majors with Boston in 1915. He and Shore assembled matching 18-8 records for the season. (Shore had the better E.R.A.—1.64 to the Babe’s 2.44.) ...

The Red Sox met the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1915 World Series. Ruth didn’t take the mound at all during the series and batted only once as a pinch-hitter...

Shore had another decent season the following year. “ERNIE SHORE HITS HIS STRIDE,” the Globe headlined in May 1916. He finished at 15-10, but Ruth was much better at 23-12. Shore nonetheless was again assigned to Game 1 of the World Series with Brooklyn... shaky ...

Shore rebounded to conclude the Series with a 4-1 win over Jeff Pfeffer in Game 5...

Despite the North Carolinian’s star turn in the series, Ruth continued to eclipse Shore in 1917...

... June 23, 1917. Umpire Brick Owens called the first three pitches to leadoff batter Ray Morgan all balls. After heated jawing, Ruth blew up on Owens’ ball four call and charged with fists flying... ejected ...

Shore tossed his five allotted warm-up pitches and began. Morgan tried stealing on the first pitch but Boston catcher Sam Agnew gunned him down. Shore then retired two batters with five more pitches and returned to the dugout. The big right-hander said he felt fine, so (Jack) Barry sent him to the bullpen to warm up properly while Boston batted.

Shore came back out and retired the next 23 consecutive batters...

Years later ... (Shore) calculated that he hadn’t thrown 75 pitches the whole game, which he called the easiest he ever pitched...

... World War I in Europe ... Shore ... enlisting in the Naval Reserves...

Ensign Shore was traded to the Yankees ...

1919 spring training, but caught an illness ...

Many years later, however, he acknowledged, “My arm was shot by that time.” ...

In 1956, ... Sportswriters also called that year for comments on Yankees pitcher Don Larsen’s perfect game in the World Series. “I never saw a cleaner game,” said Shore, who had watched it on TV...

The long debate over Shore’s amazing 1917 relief performance continued. Some record books listed it as a perfect game, others didn’t...

The debate was finally settled in 1991 when an eight-man “committee of statistical accuracy” headed by Commissioner Fay Vincent dropped Shore’s game from the list of perfect games. It instead became a combined no-hitter with Ruth.

_______________________

Obviously, it was not a perfect game. It seems silly that it was ever considered one.

Ernie Shore

Position: Pitcher

Bats: Right  •  Throws: Right

6-4, 220lb (193cm, 99kg)

Born: March 24, 1891 in East Bend, NC us

Died: September 24, 1980 (Aged 89-184d) in Winston-Salem, NC

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	ERA+	FIP	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9	SO/W	Awards
1912	21	NYG	NL	0	0		27.00	1	0	1	0	0	1	1.0	8	10	3	1	1		1	0	0	0	13	18	16.85	9.000	72.0	9.0	9.0	9.0	1.00
1914	23	BOS	AL	10	5	.667	2.00	20	16	3	10	1	1	139.2	103	45	31	1	34		51	5	0	3	544	135	2.64	0.981	6.6	0.1	2.2	3.3	1.50
1915	24	BOS	AL	19	8	.704	1.64	38	32	3	17	4	0	247.0	207	75	45	3	66		102	4	1	4	978	170	2.59	1.105	7.5	0.1	2.4	3.7	1.55
1916	25	BOS	AL	16	10	.615	2.63	38	28	8	10	3	1	225.2	221	83	66	1	49		62	4	0	3	907	105	2.53	1.196	8.8	0.0	2.0	2.5	1.27
1917	26	BOS	AL	13	10	.565	2.22	29	27	2	14	1	1	226.2	201	76	56	1	55		57	12	1	4	903	116	2.70	1.129	8.0	0.0	2.2	2.3	1.04
1919	28	NYY	AL	5	8	.385	4.17	20	13	3	3	0	0	95.0	105	50	44	4	44		24	1	0	1	410	76	3.95	1.568	9.9	0.4	4.2	2.3	0.55
1920	29	NYY	AL	2	2	.500	4.87	14	5	4	2	0	1	44.1	61	31	24	1	21		12	1	1	1	205	79	3.99	1.850	12.4	0.2	4.3	2.4	0.57
7 Yrs				65	43	.602	2.47	160	121	24	56	9	5	979.1	906	370	269	12	270		309	27	3	16	3960	114	2.82	1.201	8.3	0.1	2.5	2.8	1.14

World Series:

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Series	Rslt	Opp	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9	SO/W	WPA	cWPA
1915	24	BOS	AL	WS	W	PHI	1	1	.500	2.12	2	2	0	2	0	0	17.0	12	4	4	0	8	0	6	0	0	0	68	1.176	6.4	0.0	4.2	3.2	0.75	0.33	12.6%
1916	25	BOS	AL	WS	W	BRO	2	0	1.000	1.53	2	2	0	1	0	0	17.2	12	6	3	0	4	0	9	1	0	0	69	0.906	6.1	0.0	2.0	4.6	2.25	0.42	10.7%
2 Yrs (2 Series)							3	1	.750	1.82	4	4	0	3	0	0	34.2	24	10	7	0	12	0	15	1	0	0	137	1.038	6.2	0.0	3.1	3.9	1.25	0.75	23.3%
2 WS							3	1	.750	1.82	4	4	0	3	0	0	34.2	24	10	7	0	12	0	15	1	0	0	137	1.038	6.2	0.0	3.1	3.9	1.25	0.75	23.3%

Rk	Year	Series	Date	Tm		Opp	Rslt	Inngs	Dec	DR	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	HBP	ERA	BF	Pit	Str	StL	StS	GB	FB	LD	PU	Unk	GSc	IR	IS	SB	CS	PO	AB	2B	3B	IBB	GDP	SF	ROE	aLI	WPA	acLI	cWPA	RE24	Entered	Exited
1	1915	WS g1	Oct 8	BOS	@	PHI	L,1-3	CG(8)	L(0-1)	99	8.0	5	3	3	4	2	0	0	3.38	32					16	8	0	3	2	58			1	2	0	27	0	0	0	0	0	1	1.15	-0.193	59.90	-5.56%	0.31	1b start tie	8b 3 out d2
2	1915	WS g4	Oct 12	BOS		PHI	W,2-1	CG	W(1-1)	3	9.0	7	1	1	4	4	0	0	2.12	36					8	15	1	3	5	69			1	1	0	31	0	1	0	0	0	0	1.29	0.524	80.99	18.15%	2.58	1t start tie	9t 3 out a1
3	1916	WS g1	Oct 7	BOS		BRO	W,6-5	GS-9	W(1-0)	99	8.2	9	5	3	3	5	0	1	3.12	36					15	4	0	2	8	52			0	0	0	32	0	2	0	3	0	1	1.14	0.163	59.41	4.71%	-1.00	1t start tie	9t 123 2 out a2
4	1916	WS g5	Oct 12	BOS		BRO	W,4-1	CG	W(2-0)	4	9.0	3	1	0	1	4	0	0	1.53	33					18	8	0	2	2	82			0	0	0	31	0	0	0	0	0	2	.77	0.255	34.50	6.02%	2.71	1t start tie	9t 3 out a3
											34.2	24	10	7	12	15	0	1	1.82	137																			0

Babe Ruth pitching with the Boston Red Sox:

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	ERA+	FIP	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9	SO/W	Awards
1914	19	BOS	AL	2	1	.667	3.91	4	3	0	1	0	0	23.0	21	12	10	1	7		3	0	0	0	96	70	3.65	1.217	8.2	0.4	2.7	1.2	0.43
1915	20	BOS	AL	18	8	.692	2.44	32	28	3	16	1	0	217.2	166	80	59	3	85		112	6	1	9	874	114	2.81	1.153	6.9	0.1	3.5	4.6	1.32
1916	21	BOS	AL	23	12	.657	1.75	44	40	3	23	9	1	323.2	230	83	63	0	118		170	8	1	3	1272	158	2.43	1.075	6.4	0.0	3.3	4.7	1.44
1917	22	BOS	AL	24	13	.649	2.01	41	38	3	35	6	2	326.1	244	93	73	2	108		128	11	0	5	1277	128	2.65	1.079	6.7	0.1	3.0	3.5	1.19
1918	23	BOS	AL	13	7	.650	2.22	20	19	0	18	1	0	166.1	125	51	41	1	49		40	2	1	3	660	122	2.75	1.046	6.8	0.1	2.7	2.2	0.82
1919	24	BOS	AL	9	5	.643	2.97	17	15	2	12	0	1	133.1	148	59	44	2	58		30	2	1	5	570	102	3.58	1.545	10.0	0.1	3.9	2.0	0.52

Babe Ruth pitching in the World Series:

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Series	Rslt	Opp	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9	SO/W	WPA	cWPA
1916	21	BOS	AL	WS	W	BRO	1	0	1.000	0.64	1	1	0	1	0	0	14.0	6	1	1	1	3	0	4	0	0	0	48	0.643	3.9	0.6	1.9	2.6	1.33	1.08	32.2%
1918	23	BOS	AL	WS	W	CHC	2	0	1.000	1.06	2	2	0	1	1	0	17.0	13	2	2	0	7	0	4	1	0	1	68	1.176	6.9	0.0	3.7	2.1	0.57	0.52	17.1%
2 Yrs (2 Series)							3	0	1.000	0.87	3	3	0	2	1	0	31.0	19	3	3	1	10	0	8	1	0	1	116	0.935	5.5	0.3	2.9	2.3	0.80	1.60	49.4%
2 WS							3	0	1.000	0.87	3	3	0	2	1	0	31.0	19	3	3	1	10	0	8	1	0	1	116	0.935	5.5	0.3	2.9	2.3	0.80	1.60	49.4%

Rk	Year	Series	Date	Tm		Opp	Rslt	Inngs	Dec	DR	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	HBP	ERA	BF	Pit	Str	StL	StS	GB	FB	LD	PU	Unk	GSc	IR	IS	SB	CS	PO	AB	2B	3B	IBB	GDP	SF	ROE	aLI	WPA	acLI	cWPA	RE24	Entered	Exited
1	1916	WS g2	Oct 9	BOS		BRO	W,2-1	CG(14)	W(1-0)	99	14.0	6	1	1	3	4	1	0	0.64	48					25	10	2	3	6	97			0	2	0	43	1	0	0	1	0	1	1.54	1.082	82.82	32.24%	4.77	1t start tie	14t 3 out tie
2	1918	WS g1	Sep 5	BOS	@	CHC	W,1-0	SHO	W(1-0)	99	9.0	6	0	0	1	4	0	1	0.00	35					12	13	0	1	4	78			0	0	0	32	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.56	0.742	81.25	24.39%	3.66	1b start tie	9b 3 out a1
3	1918	WS g4	Sep 9	BOS		CHC	W,3-2	GS-9	W(2-0)	3	8.0	7	2	2	6	0	0	0	1.06	33					16	4	1	0	7	54			0	0	1	27	0	0	0	2	0	0	1.73	-0.223	102.12	-7.28%	0.23	1t start tie	9t 12- 0 out a1
											31.0	19	3	3	10	8	1	1	0.87	116																			0

29 consecutive scoreless World Series innings by Ruth. Record broken in 1961 by Yankee Whitey Ford with 32.

WS	G	at	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
1916	2		BRO	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1918	1	@	CHC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1918	4		CHC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2

But neither Ruth nor Ford retired 26 consecutive batters in any game. Ernie Shore did.