Wildest Innings of All Time

jon abbey

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I thought this might be fun in the offseason, the wildest full innings of all time, preference to more meaningful games but an especially ridiculous meaningless regular season inning can be nominated.

There are of course tons but the first that came to mind for me was the 7th inning in game 5 of the 2015 Rangers/Blue Jays ALDS in Toronto, the top of the inning had the go-ahead run scoring for TEX on a throw back to the mound that hit the batter's bat from behind and bounced away, which of course no one has seen before or after and so no one had any idea what to call. Then the TOR crowd went nuts when the call was eventually upheld and the run counted, as rowdy a MLB crowd as you will ever see and way out of control, throwing shit on the field and stopping the game for a while.

When they got to the bottom of the inning, the whole thing seemed to have somehow rattled TEX who booted ball after ball before Bautista put them out of their misery with one of the alltime best blast/bat flip combos. Out of context, maybe it could seem that Bautista overdid that but that was as surreal an inning as you will ever see, 53 minutes long, both teams fighting their hardest to each scratch across one more run to keep it tied at 3-3 and in a microsecond it was 6-3 and probably the series was over.

Wow, I forgot a lot of the people involved, plus after all that the benches cleared twice, after the Bautista HR and before the 8th, below is the Wikipedia entry, two paragraphs on one inning. I feel good about my nomination.

"The 53-minute seventh inning was laden with controversy. At the top of the inning, with Rougned Odor on third and two outs, Russell Martin was in the process of throwing the ball back to the mound after Aaron Sanchez delivered a pitch, but the ball hit Choo's bat and bounced toward third base. Odor observed this and ran to home to score the go-ahead run, though the play was initially ruled a dead ball by home-plate umpire Dale Scott and the run was voided. Rangers manager Jeff Banister came out to argue and after a discussion, the umpires awarded the run to Texas, citing rule 6.03a – that Choo was not intentionally interfering with the throw back to the pitcher. Since Choo was in the batter's box interference could not be called and the play was ruled a live ball. The game was delayed 18-minutes while angry home fans tossed beer cans and garbage on the field. During this time, a video review from the umpires was on confirming with a rules check, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons announced he was playing the game under protest.

The turning point in the game came during the bottom of the seventh inning, when the Rangers made three consecutive errors; a fielding error by Elvis Andrus, a throwing error by first baseman Mitch Moreland (that was thrown at Andrus), and a missed catch error, also by Andrus, loaded the bases with nobody out. Ben Revere proceeded to hit into a fielder's choice to first, with Moreland throwing to home, where pinch runner Dalton Pompey slid into the catcher Chris Gimenez to prevent the chance of a double play; after a Texas review, the play stood, and no interference was called. At that point the Rangers' sinker-baller Sam Dyson relieved Cole Hamels. Josh Donaldson hit a ball just over the glove of Rougned Odor. Odor recovered and threw the ball to second base for a force out but the tying run scored and left runners on first and third. The next batter, José Bautista, hit a three-run home run off Dyson to give the Blue Jays a 6–3 lead. He would flip his bat before running the bases, an action widely applauded by Blue Jays fans and several media outlets but considered unsportsmanlike by some observers.[28] The benches would clear afterward, when Edwin Encarnación threw up his hands to the fans in an attempt to discourage any more garbage being thrown on the field but Dyson interpreted that as Encarnación showboating. At the end of the inning, Dyson and Troy Tulowitzki got into an argument after Dyson touched Tulowitzki on the buttocks when the former was walking back to his dugout, and the benches cleared once again. There were no ejections or punches thrown in either bench-clearing incident."

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UdsVO7HaJg
 

54thMA

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October 25th, 1986, Game 6 of the World Series, tenth inning.

Red Sox scored two to take the lead...……...and the rest is history.
 

stepson_and_toe

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Oh, well, a game I recall listening to on the radio was played at Fenway Park on June 18, 1953. The Red Sox came to bat in the bottom of the 7th leading 5-3 and Sammy White led off with a single, Gene Stephens followed with another single with White going to 3rd. Stephens stole 2nd and until George Kell flew out to LF with the bases loaded (his second out of the inning), the Red Sox scored 17 times. Gene Stephens got three hits in the inning, pitcher Ellis Kinder got two, and the only home run was hit by Dick Gernert (3-run). They began the bottom of the 8th by loading the bases with three singles but then made three consecutive outs (with one running scoring on a ground out), winning the day game in 3:03 in front of 3,108 fans by a score of 23-3 with 27 hits. Incidentally, they won the previous day's game against the Tigers, 17-1.

This was a modern MLB record.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS195306180.shtml
 

tims4wins

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Not sure what the record is for consecutive guys to reach base to start a game, but that 2003 game vs. the Marlins the Sox first 10 guys all reached, that was pretty wild.
 

simplicio

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Not as dramatic as these, but I'll always remember the 13th inning of Red Sox/Dodgers game 3 last year, where nobody could make a throw to freaking first and Nunez was doing his best James Brown impression in both halves of the inning.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Not sure what the record is for consecutive guys to reach base to start a game, but that 2003 game vs. the Marlins the Sox first 10 guys all reached, that was pretty wild.
That was my first thought for this thread as well. It was 11 straight to reach base (1 walk, 4 singles, 3 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run) before Nomar popped out to the catcher. Incidentally, it was the only out of the inning that didn't also involve a run scoring: Millar was the second out on an RBI sac-fly and Mueller was thrown out at the plate to end the inning trying to score from second on a bases-loaded single by Damon (his 3rd hit of the inning). Overall a great half-inning.
 

stepson_and_toe

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Then there was the game of June 18, 1961, Senators at Fenway, which was probably the last game I saw for a little over three years as I had just finished basic training and was home on leave waiting to report for my flight to France. The Red Sox went into the top of the 9th trailing 5-7 and promptly gave up 5 runs, marked by a grand slam by Willie Tasby off Ted Wills. However, the Red Sox scored a runs with two outs and then three consecutive walks brought home 2 more and loaded the bases for Jim Pigliaroni, who hit his own slam to tie the game. A walk, single, and single (by Russ Nixon) won the game, 13-12 for the Sox.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS196106181.shtml#event_82
 

jon abbey

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Wild half innings aren’t as interesting, ideally it should be an inning with wild things happening in both the top and the bottom of the inning, I tried to make that clear in the first post.
 

snowmanny

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How about the first inning of the first Yankees-Red Sox game in London this past June, when Porcello and Tanaka combined for 1 IP and an ERA of 108.00?

I seriously thought they' might not be able to finish the game, but it settled down to 17-13.
 

jon abbey

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How about the first inning of the first Yankees-Red Sox game in London this past June, when Porcello and Tanaka combined for 1 IP and an ERA of 108.00?

I seriously thought they' might not be able to finish the game, but it settled down to 17-13.
Yeah that was pretty crazy, good call. 6-6 after the first!

Edit: And as an added bonus, both teams wore their home uniforms for that game.
 

SemperFidelisSox

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The 10th inning of Game 6 of the 2011 World Series. Josh Hamilton hits a 2 run go ahead homerun to make it 9-7 Rangers. In the bottom of the 10th, the Cardinals get two consecutive singles. After two groundouts, Texas is one out away. Ron Washington intentionally walks Pujols. 2-2 count on Berkman. Texas is one strike away. Berkman singles. Tie game.
 

Bowhemian

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I’d like to nominate the 2007 Red Sox, May 13th, bottom of the 9th.
Yes, the so-called Mother’s Day Miracle.
 

jon abbey

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Again, half innings alone don’t qualify, the top of that inning BAL went 1-2-3.
 

terrynever

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8th inning, Game 7, 1960 WS. Yanks score two in top of 8th to take a 7-4 lead. Yogi hit a foul homer and then a fair one. Pirates scored 5 in bottom of 8th, set up by bad-hop grounder on a rock-hard infield, capped by Hal Smith’s 3-run homer.
Yankees tied it at 9 in top of ninth.
David Schoenfeld, who hates the Yankees, calls Game 7 the greatest game ever. The 8th inning was nuts.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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8th inning, Game 7, 1960 WS. Yanks score two in top of 8th to take a 7-4 lead. Yogi hit a foul homer and then a fair one. Pirates scored 5 in bottom of 8th, set up by bad-hop grounder on a rock-hard infield, capped by Hal Smith’s 3-run homer.
Yankees tied it at 9 in top of ninth.
David Schoenfeld, who hates the Yankees, calls Game 7 the greatest game ever. The 8th inning was nuts.
The Hal Smith HR was the play with the single greatest swing in championship win expectancy in baseball history. Just saw an article about that last month.
 

terrynever

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The Hal Smith HR was the play with the single greatest swing in championship win expectancy in baseball history. Just saw an article about that last month.
Yes, the timing was exquisite for Pittsburgh fans. Maz’s homer an inning later occurred at 3:36 p.m., one minute after my school day ended.
 

InstaFace

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8th inning, Game 7, 1960 WS. Yanks score two in top of 8th to take a 7-4 lead. Yogi hit a foul homer and then a fair one. Pirates scored 5 in bottom of 8th, set up by bad-hop grounder on a rock-hard infield, capped by Hal Smith’s 3-run homer.
Yankees tied it at 9 in top of ninth.
David Schoenfeld, who hates the Yankees, calls Game 7 the greatest game ever. The 8th inning was nuts.
I don't think there's much argument about greatest game ever. I can't muster a clear conclusion about second place, much less a difficult choice for first.

The article you're talking about for greatest championship swing was probably this one. As it recounts, the 1960 WS Game 7 had 3 of the top 9 plays in baseball history (Berra T6, Hal Smith B8, Mazeroski B9), including 2 of the top 3. The win probability chart swings are absolutely nuts. Can you imagine being a fan of either team at that ballpark? That game was fuckin' opera.

My nomination would be the 3rd inning of 1999 ALDS Game 5. Mayhem on both sides.

Top of the 3rd, Red Sox Batting, Behind 2-5, Indians' Charles Nagy facing 9-1-2
- Nixon Walk
- Offerman Single, Nixon to 3B
- Valentin Groundout 5-4, Nixon scores
- Daubach Double, Valentin to 3rd
- Nomah IBB
- O'Leary grand slam
- Stanley groundout 5-3
- Varitek flyout

Bottom of the 3rd, Indians Batting, Behind 5-7, Red Sox' Derek Lowe facing 3-4-5
- Alomar Double to CF
- Manny Double to CF, Alomar scores
- Word Up Thome HR, Manny scores, tied 7-7
...Groundout, K, groundout

Derek Lowe didn't know up from down, Nagy had already gotten O'Leary'd once. And then at the end of this wild inning a hush goes over the field, the bullpen gate swings open, and... enter Pedro.
 
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jon abbey

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1960 was before my time but as far as 'greatest game', 'greatest series', for me that's not a candidate because of how lopsided the 3 NY wins in the series were.

It's a different topic but greatest game in my baseball lifetime (starting late 1976) was game 6 of the 1986 NLCS, which was basically a game 7 because if the Mets lost, the unhittable Mike Scott was waiting to beat them for the third time in game 7. The run scoring was beautifully symmetrical:

Astros score 3 in the 1st
Mets score 3 in the 9th, extra innings.
Both teams score once in the 14th.
Mets score 3 in the 16th, give up 2 in the bottom of the inning and strand 2 runners when Orosco strikes out Bass on his 54th pitch (!!!!).

The 16th inning of that game would qualify for this thread, thought about mentioning that before, but game 5 (which I was at) and game 6 of that series were two of the greatest games I have ever seen, and game 6 gets my vote for #1.
 

pedro1918

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My nomination would be the 3rd inning of 1999 ALDS Game 5. Mayhem on both sides.

Top of the 3rd, Red Sox Batting, Behind 2-5, Indians' Charles Nagy facing 9-1-2
- Nixon Walk
- Offerman Single, Nixon to 3B
- Valentin Groundout 5-4, Nixon scores
- Daubach Double, Valentin to 3rd
- Nomah IBB
- O'Leary grand slam
- Stanley groundout 5-3
- Varitek flyout

Bottom of the 3rd, Indians Batting, Behind 5-7, Red Sox' Derek Lowe facing 3-4-5
- Alomar Double to CF
- Manny Double to CF, Alomar scores
- Word Up Thome HR, Manny scores, tied 7-7
...Groundout, K, groundout

Derek Lowe didn't know up from down, Nagy had already gotten O'Leary'd once. And then at the end of this wild inning a hush goes over the field, the bullpen gate swings open, and... enter Pedro.
After that inning, I remember calling my boss, an Indians fan, and having a conversation that can be described as “Oh my god, what the fuck was that??

Yummy!!
 
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YankeesIsrael

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The 12th inning of game 2 of the 1995 Mariners-Yankees ALDS. Some dramatic moments, and the first career playoff appearance for 2 Yankees (Pettitte had his earlier that game):

Mariano Rivera finished the top half by striking out Jay Buhner (5th in MVP voting that year). He would throw 3 more scoreless innings for the win.

Jorge Posada entered the game as a pinch-runner(!), and scored the tying run, seconds before Bernie Williams would get thrown out at home. Until that game his entire career was one inning as a catcher.

There was also the 14th inning in this game:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA200205170.shtml

which foreshadowed the Yankees’ dominance over the Twins in future years.
 

jon abbey

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The Giambi walk-off grand slam in the rain, I was out of the country for that and yet still remember it.
 

terrynever

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1960 was before my time but as far as 'greatest game', 'greatest series', for me that's not a candidate because of how lopsided the 3 NY wins in the series were.
If those three Yankee wins had been close games, the ending wouldn’t have been so unbelievable. But I think your point is fair.
 

InstaFace

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Regardless of how we got there, that was a World Series Game 7. Winners get rings, a parade, flags flying forever, losers go home and think about what could've been. If you're trying to find a game with maximum drama, plot twists and great plays, you'd be really hard pressed to name something that compares to that one. 2016 Game 7 was bonkers, probably top 10 all time, but still not as absurd as a 10-9 finish with a title-winning walk off HR for the home team.
 

fenwaypaul

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Yes, the timing was exquisite for Pittsburgh fans. Maz’s homer an inning later occurred at 3:36 p.m., one minute after my school day ended.
Our school day ended a little earlier than yours. I heard the 8th inning on the school bus radio, and got home just in time to see Mazeroski's homer live. I have to agree that that 8th was as wild an inning as I can recall.