Red Sox 1-36: 17 is for…

Red Sox record 17 runs scored in a single inning.

Yup. 17 runs in one inning. That is a ton of runs, isn’t it? I can’t even imagine.

I don’t know what the all-time record is for any team. I’m guessing that it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t diminish the fact that the Red Sox put up their seventeen.

It was the seventh inning of the game on June 18, 1953. That game actually holds a lot of records for the Sox, as you might imagine. The major league record for most times facing a pitcher in an inning is three. If you remember, Johnny Damon actually tied the record against the Marlins in 2003. Five Red Sox players tied that record during that seventh inning in 1953. Five! A record 23 Red Sox came to the plate that inning, delivering an AL record fourteen hits, eleven of which were singles. In all, a record 20 batters reached base that inning. What was it like to witness that?

I’ve been at games where there have been big rallies. Watching single after single just beat the pitcher senseless. But, eleven of them? Dice-K can be maddening sometimes, but nothing like that. How can fans of the losing team handle listening to that onslaught? Can fans of the Sox even take that kind of an inning? I think even I would grow tired after the fifteenth run crossed the plate.

What about the other team? The guys in the stands who had to watch his pitchers get picked apart. And, really, it’s the singles that would drive me nuts. I can almost see a couple walks, and a three-run homer. I can understand getting shelled with homers and doubles. But, eleven singles? Talk about frustrating! A grounder in the hole, a liner over short, a liner over second, a grounder up the middle…then do that again three more times. My goodness.

What an inning.

17 is for 17 runs scored by the Sox in one inning.