Time for another edition of Baseball Roundtable Trivia(l) Tidbit Tuesday. I hope you are enjoying this weekly presentation of baseball occurrences that for some reason caught The Roundtable’s eye. (I’m particularly fond of unexpected performances or statistical coincidences.) These won’t necessarily be momentous occurrences, just events, statistics or coincidences that grabbed my attention.
This Tuesday, the focus is comebacks – specifically by teams facing deficits of a dozen runs.
Right-handed pitcher Tom Glass had a very short MLB career – one season, two appearances, five innings pitched and a 1-0, 5.40 stat line. Despite his minimal major-leaguer tenure, Glass was the winning pitcher in an historic MLB contest. It came on June 15, 1925 in Glass’ second (and final) MLB appearance. Glass’ Athletics were facing the Indians (in Philadelphia). Veteran righty Eddie Rommel (9-4, 4.83) started for the Athletics, while southpaw Jake Miller (3-3, 2.25) was on the hill for the Indians.
Cleveland got out of the gate fast and, by the time Glass came on to pitch in the top of the sixth, the Indians led the Athletics 12-2. In that sixth inning, Glass gave up two more tallies, bringing the Indians lead to 14-2 (a 12-run gap that will be significant as we go on). The Athletics scored one off Miller in the bottom of the inning on a triple by 1B Jim Poole and a sacrifice fly by Glass (his only career RBI). In the top of the seventh, the Indians got the run back as C Glenn Myatt stole home – and the lead was back to 12 (15-3). The Athletics responded with one tally in the bottom of the inning and Glass pitched a scoreless top of the eighth, setting up a bit of MLB history.
In the bottom of the eighth the Athletics used four walks, seven singles, one triple and a three-run home run by CF Al Simmons to take a 17-15 lead (the Indians used four pitchers in the frame.) At one point in the inning, ten consecutive athletics’ hitters reached base. Glass had been pinch hit for during the inning, so Rube Walberg came in to pitch a scoreless ninth and save the win for Glass.
As it turned out, that comeback from a 12-run deficit is tied for the largest comeback in Modern Era MLB history – and, of course, Glass closed out his MLB career with the win. By the way, five future Hall of Famers appeared in the game: for the Athletics, Al Simmons, Mickey Cochrane and Jimmie Foxx; for the Indians, Tris Speaker and Joe Sewell.
For those who like to know such things here are MLB’s other two comeback from 12-run deficits.
On June 18, 1911, the Tigers trailed the White Sox 13-1 going into the bottom of the fifth. From that point on, Detroit held Chicago to two runs, while scoring 15 of their own (including three in the bottom of the ninth) for a 16-15 victory. The Tigers’ hitting star was Ty Cobb, who went five-for-six, with five RBI and three runs scored.
The winning pitcher was southpaw Clarence Mitchell. Now, regular readers know how I like a coincidence. Turns out Mitchell, like Tom Glass (above) was also a rookie, also making just his second MLB mound appearance and also picking up his first MLB win. Mitchell threw the last two innings (giving up no runs). He would go on to a 125-188, 4.12 record in 18 MLB seasons (P/1B). In addition to 390 mound appearances, Mitchell appeared in 76 games at first base, 20 in the outfield and 171 as a pinch hitter. In 1,287 at bats, he hit .252-7-133.
On August 5, 2001, the Indians trailed the Mariners 12-0 going into the bottom of the fourth – and trailed 14-2 after six. Cleveland then held Seattle scoreless over innings 7-8-9, while the Tribe scored three in the seventh, four in the eighth and five in the ninth to tie the game. They then won 15-14 on an RBI single by 2B Jolbert Cabrera (who had replaced Roberto Alomar in the sixth inning) scoring CF Kenny Lofton, in the bottom of the eleventh,
The win went to southpaw John Rocker, who had pitched a clean top of the ninth – fanning Carlos Guillen, David Bell and Bret Boone on 18 pitches. Rocker was in his fourth of six MLB seasons. His final career line was 13-22, 3.42, with 88 saves. Indians’ SS Omar Vizquel drove in four runs (four hits, including a double and a triple), while Cleveland 1B Jim Thome had three RBI on a pair of homer runs.
Primary Resources: Baseball-Reference.com; Baseball-Almanac.com; “When Yogi Says It’s Not Over: The Biggest Comebacks in Major League Baseball History, Craig Haley, theanaylyst.com.
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