May 26, 2011

Scoring 14+ Runs In Consecutive Games

For the ninth time in team history, the Red Sox have scored 14 or more runs in consecutive games. The B-Ref search goes back only to 1919; I found one more by going through the schedules of the 1901-18 teams:
1903
September 16: 14-7 vs Cleveland
September 17: 14-3 vs Cleveland

1934
June 18: 14-9 vs Browns (G2 of DH)
June 20: 14-9 vs White Sox

1939
July 4: 17-7 and 18-12 at Athletics (DH)

1940
September 27: 24-4 vs Senators
September 28: 16-4 vs Athletics (G1 of DH)

1950
June 7: 20-4 vs Browns
June 8: 29-4 vs Browns
[after which, the Red Sox went 1-8 in their
next 9 games, and 2-10 in their next 12]

1953
June 17: 17-1 vs Tigers 
June 18: 23-3 vs Tigers

1988
June 19: 15-7 at Orioles
June 20: 14-7 at Cleveland

1998
July 2: 15-0 vs Expos
July 3: 15-2 vs White Sox

2011
May 25: 14-2 at Cleveland
May 26: 14-1 at Tigers

The record of consecutive games with 14+ runs scored for any team (1919-2011) is three, set by the 1928 Pirates 18-4, 14-6, 14-8), 1930 Cubs (16-4, 15-2, 18-10), and 1993 Tigers (15-1, 15-5, 17-11).

The 1946 Red Sox scored 12+ runs in three straight games (June 28-30), and the 1950 team scored 11+ runs in four consecutive games (June 2-5), right on the cusp of those two games against the Browns, above.

From 1919-2011, the only team to score 14+ runs in two straight games and lose them both was the 1930 Philadelphia Phillies, who were swept in a doubleheader by Pittsburgh 2-1 and 16-15 on July 23, then were beaten by the Cubs the next day 19-15.
Example
41 Days Later

End of play, April 15, 2011
            W   L   PCT   GB
Yankees     7   5  .583  ---
Blue Jays   7   6  .538  0.5
Orioles     6   6  .500  1.0
Rays        5   8  .385  1.5
Red Sox     2  10  .167  5.0
End of play, May 26, 2011
            W   L   PCT   GB
Yankees    27  21  .563  ---
Red Sox    28  22  .560  ---
Rays       26  23  .531  1.5
Orioles    24  24  .500  3.0
Blue Jays  24  26  .480  4.0
And there are still 112 games to play.

Boston has, obviously, had the best record among the five East teams in that span: 26-12.The others: Rays 21-15, Yankees 20-16, Orioles 18-18, Blue Jays 17-20.

2 comments:

Gregory Lynn said...

On May 12 the Sox were 17-20 and tied for last place.

11-2 over two weeks and they're tied for first.

tim said...

OT: lol