Yesterday (July 22, 2022), the Toronto Blue Jays topped the Boston Red Sox 28-5 before a near-capacity crowd at Fenway. Notably, Toronto had plated 25 runs (and held a 25-3 lead) through five innings. At that point, I texted my adult daughter to tell her to check in on the game. Her first reply to me was “Insane. That scorecard must be messy.” Side note: My daughter has been keeping score at games since she was eight.
Well, as always, at Baseball Roundtable, one thing lead to another and I will dedicate the bulk of this post to the game I believe resulted in the messiest scorecard(s) ever. But first a few observations on yesterday’s Blue Jays/Red Sox tilt.
- The Blue Jays scored 11 runs in the fifth inning … after the first two batters were retired. (Eight singles, two doubles, two walks after two outs).
- Five of the ten hits in the fifth inning came with 0-2 or 1-2 counts on the batter.
- Twelve of the Blue Jays’ 29 hits came with two strikes on the batter, nine with 1-2 or 0-2 counts.
- Nineteen of the Blue Jays’ 28 runs scored with two outs.
- The Blue Jays batted around twice (batting around is ten hitters for me, but that’s a debate for another day) – forcing those keeping score to go to the next column on the scorecard.
- The game feature an inside-the-park grand slam. (CF Raimel Tapia).
- The Jays “book-ended” their RBIs, the number-one and number-nine hitters (CF Raimel Tapia and C Danny Jansen) had six RBI each and hit three of the five Blue Jays’ home runs. Coming into the contest, Tapia and Jansen had a combined 11 home runs and 38 RBI in 98 combined games.
- All nine members of the Toronto starting lineup collected multiple hits and scored multiple runs.
- LF Lourdes Gurriel, Jr. had six hits, five RBI and three runs scored – collecting hits off five different Red Sox’ pitchers.
- The Blue Jays were 15-for-26 (.577) with runners in scoring position.
- The 28 runs were a Toronto franchise record, as were their 29 hits.
Now to that game I believe would have produced the messiest scorecards – at least t, post-1900/ It took place on August 25, 1922 – with the Cubs topping the Phillies 26-23 at Wrigley Field. Why a messy scorecard?
- The teams combined for modern-era records of 49 runs and 51 base hits.
- There were also 21 walks (10 by Phillies’ pitchers/11 by Cubs’ moundsmen).
- There were nine errors (four by the Phillies/five by the Cubs, accounting for 21 unearned runs.
- Each team batting around twice (ten or more batters), forcing scorekeepers to move into the next scorecard column each time.
- Thirty-three players appeared in the game. (The Cubs used two SS, two 2B, two C, five pitchers and two pinch hitters; the Philllies used two CF, two SS, two 1B, two C, two pitcher and one pinch-hitter.
You can see how all this would lead to a truly messy scorecard.
A few quirky tidbits.
First, how the game has changed:
- The Phillies tallied their 23 runs without the benefit of a single home run – the Cubs had three long balls.
- The Phillies used just two pitchers.
- The two teams sent 125 batters to the plate – and only nine struck out.
- The game took only three hours and one minute.
A few additional observations:
- The Cubs jumped out to a 25-6 lead after just four innings, but had to hold on for the 26-23 win.
- The teams scored 49 runs, but still managed to leave 25 runners on base.
- The Phillies went 15-for-31 with runners in scoring position; the Cubs 14-for-24 … for a combined average with RISP of .527.
- The teams scored a combined 23 two-out runs (12 Cubs, 11 Phillies).
- Two Cubs – SS Charlie Hollocher and LF Hack Miller each drove in six tallies; no Phillie drove in more than three.
- Nine Cubs scored multiple runs; no Cub scored just one.
- Cub Turner Barber appeared as a pinch-hitter in the fourth inning and scored twice (without ever taking the field). He walked with one out in the inning, came up again (as the team batted around) and was safe on an error – scoring twice.
- The Cubs’ CF Cliff Heathcote came into thegame hitting .256 and went five-for-five.
Primary Resource: Baseball-Reference.com
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