May 2, 2011

Eight Bases-Loaded Walks In One Inning

Before Sunday's game - in which Bobby Jenks issued three consecutive walks in the seventh inning, including two with the bases loaded - I found a Baseball Reference post from July 22, 2007, listing the most bases-loaded walks in a game. (What great timing!)

Topping the list is a game from April 22, 1959, in which the White Sox scored 11 runs in the seventh inning on only one hit. The Kansas City Athletics issued eight bases-loaded walks (and a bases-loaded HBP)! Here is how it happened:
Top of 7th, White Sox batting, ahead 8-6
Boone reaches on E6
Smith reaches on E5/sac bunt, Boone to 2B
Callison singles to RF, Boone scores, Smith scores/Callison to 3B on E9
Aparicio walks, Aparicio steals 2B
Shaw walks
(Freeman replaces Gorman; Torgeson PH for Esposito)
Torgeson walks, Callison scores, Aparicio to 3B, Shaw to 2B
Fox walks, Aparicio scores, Shaw to 3B, Torgeson to 2B
Landis safe on FC, Shaw out 1-2, Torgeson to 3B, Fox to 2B
Lollar walks, Torgeson scores, Fox to 3B, Landis to 2B
(Brunet replaces Freeman)
Boone walks, Fox scores, Landis to 3B, Lollar to 2B
Smith walks, Landis scores, Lollar to 3B, Boone to 2B
Callison hit by pitch, Lollar scores, Boone to 3B, Smith to 2B
(Skizas PR for Callison)
Aparicio walks, Boone scores, Smith to 3B, Skizas to 2B
Shaw strikes out
(Phillips PH for Torgeson)
Phillips walks, Smith scores, Skizas to 3B, Aparicio to 2B
Fox walks, Skizas scores, Aparicio to 3B, Phillips to 2B
Landis grounds out 1-3
11 runs, 1 hit, 3 errors, 3 LOB; White Sox 19, Athletics 6
It's hard to believe, but 12 consecutive White Sox hitters batted with the bases loaded. Note, also, that on all three outs, the ball did not travel past the pitcher's mound!

The BRef post from 2007 lists most bases-loaded walks in a game, not in a single inning. It looks like the second-most bases-loaded walks in one inning is "only" four. For example, the White Sox issued six bases-loaded walks to the Red Sox on May 7, 1992, but there were four in the first inning and two in the second.

A BRef post from November 16, 2009 states that there have been only two games since 1954 with at least six bases-loaded walks - and those are the 1959 and 1992 games listed above. A commenter on that post mentions the Senators walking 11 Yankees in the third inning of the first game of a September 11, 1949 doubleheader. New York sent 18 men to the plate in the 50-minute half-inning and scored 12 times.

1 comment:

Michael Holloway said...

I was meaning to look up that stat when Jays pitching walked 3 in a row with the bases loaded in the 8th on April 11th. (I wish they wouldn't do that - it's a pain in the *ss to score! :)

See the scorecard - bookmarked to the bottom of the eighth:
(http://internetbaseballscorecard.blogspot.com/2011/04/scorecard-april-11-2011-toronto-blue.html#bottom%20of%20the%20eighth)

I was also going to ask you, how to look up such things at BBref. By your post here I see it's not possible to parse out per-inning BB with the bases loaded?