Sometimes in baseball, things just don’t go your way. It happens to every player and every team. Things just spiral out of control and there is almost nothing you can do about it.
This was never more evident than during Tuesday night’s game between the Double-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, and the Portland Sea Dogs, the Double-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox.
A quick look at the game’s box score doesn’t show anything terribly unusual. Yes, the Fisher Cats did score 12 runs on just five hits, but that isn’t enough to make the game really stand out. That is, until you see the team scored 10 runs in the second inning and take a closer look.
Everything started out well for the Sea Dogs when they scored two runs in the first inning and held the Fisher Cats scoreless. It was in the second inning, however, that the wheels fell off for Portland.
In the top of the second inning, the Fisher Cats got on the board with one out on a sacrifice fly after two walks and a wild pitch. Score: Sea Dogs 2, Fisher Cats 1.
The sacrifice fly was then followed by another walk, and another walk, and another walk. Score: Sea Dogs 2, Fisher Cats 2.
After a pitching change, the next batter was hit by a pitch. Then there was another wild pitch. Score: Sea Dogs 2, Fisher Cats 4.
That was followed by, you guessed it, another walk, another hit by pitch, and another wild pitch. Score: Sea Dogs 2, Fisher Cats 6.
Two more walks then followed and the Sea Dogs made another pitching change. Score: Sea Dogs 2, Fisher Cats 7.
The new pitcher then threw a wild pitch. Score: Sea Dogs 2, Fisher Cats 8.
That made it eight runs for the Fisher Cats without registering a single base hit.
The next batter finally singled, scoring two more runs, and the next batter struck out, ending the crazy inning.
“I don’t ever remember seeing that, here or any other game I’ve ever seen,” The Athletic reports Sea Dogs president Geoff Iacuessa told WGME in Portland. “It was crazy. I thought maybe something was going on with the scoreboard. And then I checked the GameChanger, and it was correct.”
According to The Athletic, the Elias Sports Bureau has no record of a Major League Baseball team ever scoring eight runs with zero hits.
MLB.com reports there have only been 16 cases in MLB history where a pitcher gave up five runs in 1-2/3 or fewer innings without giving up a hit. In the same inning on Tuesday, not one, but two Sea Dogs pitchers “achieved” that miserable mark.