Not Likely to See that Again<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Right-hander Tom Glass left the mound after the eighth inning of his Athletics’ June 15, 1925 game against the Indians with his team down 15-4, but still came away with his only major -league victory.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Shibe Park … Home of the Philadelphia Athletics. Tom Glass had what can best be described as a brief major-league career.\u00a0 It encompassed all of two appearances with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1925.\u00a0 His final stat line was 1-0, 5.40, giving up nine hits and three earned runs in five major-league innings.\u00a0 That one victory was memorable, however, coming in what Baseball Roundtable would judge as MLB’s greatest-ever, late-inning comeback. It came on June 15, 1925, with Glass’ Athletics taking on the Cleveland Indians in Philadelphia.\u00a0 Glass came into the game in the top of the sixth, with the Athletics trailing 12-2. When he tossed his last pitch of the game (also his last pitch in the major leagues), he had given up three runs on seven hits over three innings – and the Athletics were facing a 15-4 deficit. And yet, Glass was about to pick up his one and only MLB victory – as the Athletics\u00a0 were about to put together a 13-run eighth inning comeback. In the frame:<\/p>\n The inning went like this:<\/p>\n Rube Walberg then set the Indians down, giving up a lone single, in the ninth and the Athletics had their comeback win (and Glass his major-league victory). Glass was released by the Athletics one week later and never again took the mound in a major-league game.<\/p>\n Notably, the Athletics came back from a 12 run-deficit (15-3) going into the bottom of the seventh (tying the MLB record for the largest run-deficit ever “recovered from.”\u00a0 The others to accomplish this feat?\u00a0 On June 18, 1911, the Tigers trailed the White Sox 13-1 going into the bottom of fifth and came back for a 16-15 win.\u00a0 On August 5, 2001, the Indians trailed the Mariners 14-2 after six innings and came back for a 15-14 win in 11 innings.\u00a0 Still, the 1925 Athletics came back from a 12-run deficit later in the game than either the Tigers or the Indians – and being behind by 11 in the eighth (and making it all up .. and then some … in one inning) just adds to their edge in the BBRT\u00a0 “comeback” rating. (While their backs weren’t against the wall in the eighth – they did have one more inning to bat if they needed it –\u00a0 they were about as close to the wall as you can get.)<\/em><\/p>\n Baseball Roundtable would like to dedicate the remainder of this post to truly \u201cbacks-against-the-wall\u201d MLB comebacks.\u00a0 (This is just<\/em> another example of BBRT’s research philosophy of “one thing least to another.”<\/em>)\u00a0 \u00a0As I approached this post, I first had to define my criteria.\u00a0\u00a0 For me, backs-against-the-wall<\/em> meant games in which the maximum deficit was in place in the ninth inning (or later). \u00a0Baseball-Reference.com showed 41 games in which the ultimate winning team was down by five or more runs in the ninth inning (and either won or tied the game in that frame) \u2013 and one contest in which that five-run deficit criteria was met in the bottom of the tenth. That seemed to be too many games for a single blog post, so I narrowed the field a bit more \u2013 going for games in which the winning team was down by five or more runs, with two outs and no one on base in the ninth <\/em><\/strong>(or an extra) inning.\u00a0 I also added the stipulation that the team had to not just tie the game, but score the winning run in the comeback inning – and decided to focus on just the biggest comebacks under those circumstances (which proved to be overcoming a six-run deficit).\u00a0 Now, I had a workable set. \u00a0Then, as I put this together, I decided to add one more game \u2013 the biggest comeback with two out in the bottom of the ninth, regardless of base runners.<\/p>\n ___________________________________________<\/p>\n Biggest Comeback with Two Out and No One on Base<\/em> <\/span>in the Ninth Inning \u2013 Six-Run Deficit<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Bottom of the Ninth … Pirates, July 28,2001 … Fifteen Pitches\/Seven Runs<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Brian Giles Grand Slam topped this comeback.\u00a0 Photo by ewen and donabel<\/a> The biggest comeback with two outs and no one on in the bottom of the ninth belongs to the 2001 Pirates.\u00a0 On July 28 of that season, the Pirates went into the bottom of the final frame trailing the Astros 8-2.\u00a0\u00a0 The Astros had racked up 12 hits \u2013 led by 3B Vinny Castillo’s three home runs (giving him 15 on the season).\u00a0 The Pirates had just seven safeties and had not gone yard.<\/p>\n Michael Jackson (no, not that<\/em> Michael Jackson), who had come on to pitch in the eighth (and set down the Pirates 1-2-3 ) was on the mound for the Astros. He retired 3B Aramis Ramirez and a fly to left and John Vander Wal on a fly to center \u2013 five up and five down in his appearance to this point. The Pirate were down six runs – and down to their last out.\u00a0 Yet, just fifteen pitches later, they would be celebrating a victory.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Over the next ten pitches from Jackson:<\/p>\n After this barrage, the\u00a0 Astros brought in closer Billy Wagner.\u00a0 But Wagner, who would save 39 games that season, could not save this one.\u00a0 Here’s how his (five-pitch) outing went:<\/p>\n Top of the Ninth … Cubs, June 29, 1952 … Church Can’t Close it Out on a Sunday<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n On Sunday, June 29, 1952, the Cubs were facing the Reds in a doubleheader in Cincinnati.\u00a0 They had, appropriately, started Bubba Church on that Sunday.\u00a0 The Reds seemed to have the first game in hand, taking an 8-2 lead into the top of the final inning. At this point, they had collected 15 hits to the Cubs’ six.\u00a0 \u00a0Church was on the hill for the Reds \u2013 looking for hit looking for his first win of the season. Despite the big lead, it was not to be.<\/p>\n Brief Break: One Rough “Comebacker” … One Gritty Comeback<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Church spent eight days in the hospital and, just one day after his release,<\/span> was back on the mound for the Phillies – going five innings in a 11-0 loss to the Dodgers. He got one more start that season, but lasted only 2\/3 of an inning,\u00a0 Still, it took one tough cookie to come back to the mound so soon after the Kluszewski smash. Note: Church came back to have his best season in 1951 (15-11, 3.53, with 15 complete games and four shutouts)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Trivia Tidbit: <\/strong>On May 25, 1951, Church was the first MLB pitcher to face highly touted Giants’ rookie Willie Mays – and he struck Mays out looking in the future Hall of Famer’s first MLB at bat. (Mays went 0-for-4 against Church that game.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The top of the ninth started out fine for Church, who got Cubs’ C Toby Atwell on a ground out and RF Bob Addis on a strikeout.\u00a0 Then, just one out away from victory, his afternoon went south – like this:<\/p>\n The Cubs now brought in Frank Smith to pitch \u2013 and he didn\u2019t stop the bleeding. Smith faced just two batters:<\/p>\n With the score now 8-7, the Reds brought Ken Raffensberger to the mound.<\/p>\n Dutch Leonard came on for the bottom of the ninth and gave up a lone walk, while holding the Reds Scoreless.<\/p>\n ______________________________________________<\/p>\n Biggest Comeback Bottom of an Extra Inning with Two Out and N0 One on Base<\/em> <\/span>(five-run deficit) … Dodgers, September 27, 2011<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Roberts’ Grand Slam iced this win.<\/p><\/div>\n On the evening of September 27, 2011, the Dodgers faced off against the Diamondbacks (in Arizona) with Hiroki Kuroda on the mound for LA and Jarrod Parker starting for Arizona.\u00a0 By the top of the seventh, both starting pitchers were gone \u2013 but neither had been roughed up.\u00a0 In fact, after nine innings (and a dozen pitchers), the two teams were knotted at 1-1.<\/p>\n Then came the top of the tenth inning \u2013 and the bats seemed to wake up and leave the cave. The Diamondbacks brought in Micah Owings, their seventh pitcher of the contest.\u00a0 Two singles, a double, a triple, a walk, one pitching change and three outs later, the Dodgers had a 6-1 lead (and, undoubtedly, a significant number of fans were headed for the exits).<\/p>\n The Dodgers brought in Blake Hawksworth, their seventh pitcher,<\/em> and he quickly got the first two batters on a pair of weak ground outs.\u00a0 However, the Dodgers were not to retire another batter.<\/p>\n _____________________________________________<\/p>\n Biggest Comeback with Two-out in the Bottom of the Ninth (no limit on base runners) … June 18, 1961 – Red Sox (down by seven)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n On June 18, 1961, the Senators faced off against the Red Sox at Fenway and took a slim 7-5 lead into the top of the ninth.\u00a0 The Senators then put cross five runs in the top of the final inning \u2013 fueled primarily by CF Willie Tasby’s Grand Slam.<\/p>\n Trivia Note: Senators CF Willie Tasby (.304 average coming into the game) was the only .300 hitter (position player) to appear in the game.\u00a0 Senators’ reliever Marty Kutnya, who didn’t bat in the game, came in hitting .400 (four-for-ten) on the season.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n That set the stage for the greatest,\u00a0two-out-in-the-ninth<\/em>\u00a0comeback ever. With Carl Mathias pitching, Red Sox’ 1B Vic Wertz opened the inning by grounding out pitcher-to -first; SS Don Buddin followed with a single to right.\u00a0 Next, Bill Harrell pinch hit for pitcher Ted Wills and Mathias fanned him \u2013 putting the Red Sox down to their last out \u2013 still trailing 12-5. Now the fun begins:<\/p>\n A Brief Break from Our Story: Carroll Hardy and Ted Williams<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Can anybody replace Ted Williams?\u00a0 Carroll Hardy gained a degree of notoriety – and a spot in the Trivia Hall of Fame – on September 20, 1960, when he became the only player ever called upon to pinch hit for Ted Williams. (<\/strong>Williams had fouled ball off his foot and had to leave the game). Hardy, by the way, hit into a double play. Just over a week later (September 28), when Williams was called in from left field (<\/strong>in order to set the stage for a standing ovation as the Splendid Splinter left his final MLB game), Hardy replaced Williams in left. Thus, also becoming the final player ever to replace Williams in the field during an MLB game.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n How the game had changed.\u00a0 The 25-rum, 24-hit, contest took only two hours and 47 minutes to complete and only six pitchers took the mound.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n __________________________________________________________<\/p>\n Primary Resources: Baseball-Reference.com; MLB.com; Society for American Baseball Research.<\/em><\/p>\n Interested in other “surprise endings” to ball games?\u00a0 Click here.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n![\"Shibe](\"https:\/\/baseballroundtable.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/4370136539_f9a37dc04e_q_Shibe-Park.jpg\")
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<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>Phillies’ rookie pitcher Emory “Bubba” Church\u00a0 – somewhat famously – bounced back from a viscous line drive to the face off the bat of slugger Ted Kluszewski. On September 15, 1950, the Phillies hosted the Reds, with Church (8-4, 2.22) getting the start (in Philadelphia). Church took a 1-0 lead into the top of the third – although he wasn’t particularly sharp, having already surrendered two walks and two hits. With two outs in the third, he walked Johnny Wryostek bringing up Kluszewski, who lined a ball up the middle – and off Church’s face. The ball was hit hard enough that it caromed off Church’s head and into right field – on the fly. <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n
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<\/a>Baseball Roundtable is on the Feedspot list of the Top 100 Baseball Blogs.\u00a0 To see the full list, click\u00a0here.<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nI tweet baseball @DavidBBRT<\/h3>\n