Finley was the first pitcher in the history of Major League Baseball to record four strikeouts in a single inning more than once; he accomplished the feat three times in two years (only A. J. Burnett and Zack Greinke, over a decade later, have performed a repeat four-outer). Finley accomplished the feat on May 12, 1999, then later that season on August 15, both with the Anaheim Angels, and then for a third time on April 16, 2000, with the Cleveland Indians. This oddity can mainly be attributed to the fact that he used an excellent split-finger pitch as his strike-out weapon; that pitch would often end up in the dirt, eluding both batter and catcher.