Extra Inning Blowouts
Posted by Raphy on June 7, 2010
Generally speaking, extra inning games are nail biters, exciting to the end. Occasionally however, the road team will explode in the top of an inning, making the bottom almost trivial. Since 1901, three teams have won an extra inning game by at least ten runs.
July 26, 1928 : Yankees 12 Tigers 1 (12)
The first game of a split doubleheader that featured 2 total runs in the first 11 innings and 34 in the next 8. Bob Meusel hit for the cycle, driving in 3 and scoring 2. Meanwhile, losing pitcher Vic Sorrell actually completed the game . The loss was actually a minor blip in an otherwise exciting series for the Tigers. The last place team came into Yankee Stadium and took 3 of 4 from the team that started the series 30 games ahead of them.
June 21, 1969 : Twins 14 Athletics 4 (10)
In an early season battle for first place the Twins exploded on the A's in the 10th inning. The big hit was Harmon Killebrew's 3 run homer, but a combination of Twins hitting and Oakland errors kept pushing in more runs. In all, 11 runs scored, all of them before the second out of the 10th was recorded.
July 3, 1983 : Rangers 16 Athletics 4 (15)
Fourteen years, later the A's were once again hosting a first-place team, this time the Rangers. Oakland sent this game into extra innings with a 2 run ninth inning rally, but after the 15th it was all for naught. Texas had threatened against Dave Beard in the 13th and 14 and in the 15th they finally broke through in a big way. Eight hits, four walks and an error (not all off Beard) led to 12 runs and an exciting game was reduced to a laugher.
June 7th, 2010 at 9:01 pm
sunday june 6 the national league had five extra inn games. what is the record for one league on one day
June 7th, 2010 at 9:05 pm
17 June 1887, Boston beat New York 19-9, scoring 10 in the 10th. 21 July 1886, Kansas City beat Detroit 12-2, scoring 10 runs in the 11th. 15 May 1919, Cincinnati beat Brooklyn 10-0, scoring all 10 runs in the 13th. So I count 4 teams since 1901, and 2 teams before.
June 7th, 2010 at 9:08 pm
Five extra-inning games in one day would tie the record, set by the NL on 30 May 1892, and tied on 11 May 1988.
June 7th, 2010 at 9:23 pm
Gerry is correct that the game from 1919 is missing from my list. The Reds results page ( http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CIN/1919-schedule-scores.shtml ) makes no mention of the extra-frames. However, other sites ( http://reds.enquirer.com/reds99/100moments.html ) do mention it.
Gerry - where did you get the information (for both posts)?
June 7th, 2010 at 9:35 pm
What about wins by the home team? Obviously, the most a home team can win by in extra innings is 4, on a walk-off grandslam while still tied. How many of those have we had?
June 7th, 2010 at 11:15 pm
Raphy, I'm using The Sporting News 2008 Complete Baseball Record Book, with an assist from Retrosheet.
June 7th, 2010 at 11:27 pm
BSK, if you go to the Situational Reports page, http://www.baseball-reference.com/games/situational.shtml and ask for home team, margin of victory = 4, Extra-Innings Only, you'll get 306 entries - but that includes home losses, so sort on the W column to find 64 wins (including 2 by the 1986 Mariners) since 1901. The Angels and Padres have both done it this year. The scores range from 14-10 (Twins, last year) to 4-0 (Red Sox, 1962, and White Sox, 1967).
June 8th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
BSK -the Padres did it against the Mets last week... after tying the game in the home ninth. Gaaaaaah.
June 8th, 2010 at 6:04 pm
I remember an extra-inning walk-off grand slam home run by Dale Murphy against the Cubs while he was with the Phillies near the end of his career. I just looked it up, and it was on August 6, 1991, in the 11th inning. This was during the Phillies' 13-game winning streak that season. The game was 1-1 going into the ninth, then each team scored during that inning to make it 2-2. The final was 6-2.
Of course, it's quite possible for the home team to score more than 4 runs in an extra inning, if the visitors scored in the top of that inning. I wonder what the record is for the most runs scored by both teams in the extra innings portion of a game, with the provision that each team had to have scored at least run. (Otherwise, it would be like the games noted in the original post.)
When I think of big scoring by road teams in extra inning games, the following one comes to mind:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHI/PHI199505280.shtml
Bases loaded, 2 out, 3-2 count, one-run lead for the home team in the top of the ninth. The pitch looks like strike three to everyone but one person. But of course that one person was the home plate umpire. No more ninth inning scoring, but the visitors continue where they had left off in the top of the 10th. Nine runs cross the plate. Almost as a consolation, the home team does get one back in the bottom of that inning, but of course it's not enough.
June 8th, 2010 at 6:40 pm
Thanks, all. I knew it happened, but didn't really know how to do anything with that. Well done!
June 8th, 2010 at 6:54 pm
Home team scoring more than 4 runs in an extra inning; Seattle at Boston, 16 May 1969, Pilots score 6 in the top of the 11th, Red Sox come back with 5 in the bottom to lose, 10-9; http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS196905160.shtml
Also, New York at Chicago, 30 June 1979, Mets score 6 in the top of the 11th, Cubs get 5 of them back in the bottom and lose, 9-8. http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN197906300.shtml
Also, 21 April 1991, Chicago at Pittsburgh, Cubs 5 in the 11th, Pirates 6 to win it 13-12, the only gane I found where the home team scored more than 5 runs in one extra-inning. http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PIT/PIT199104210.shtml
Finally (meaning, these are all I found, not these are all there are), New York at Brooklyn, 24 April 1955, Giants get 6 in the top of the 10th, Dodgers score 5 in the bottom and lose, 11-10. Dodgers have the consolation of winning the World Series. http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BRO/BRO195504240.shtml
Wait a sec, here's one more; Houston at San Diego, 5 July 1969, Astros 4 in the top of the 12th, Padres 5 to win, 9-8, http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SDN/SDN196907050.shtml