Now this was truly a wild inning.
The Double-A Biloxi Shuckers scored 12 runs in the sixth inning on just one hit Thursday night — drawing a whopping 13 walks from a trio of Birmingham Barons relievers, who also hit a batter and threw a pair of wild pitches.
“It just got out of control, literally,” longtime Barons radio announcer Curt Bloom said. “And it was contagious.”
“It was 87 pitches with 24 strikes. Most of them weren’t even close, really,” he added.
All nine hitters in the Biloxi lineup drew walks in the inning, leading the Milwaukee Brewers affiliate to a 14-6 win at Regions Field in Birmingham, Alabama.
The Barons, a Chicago White Sox farm team, took a 2-1 lead into the sixth before pitchers Alec Hansen, Luis Ledo and Anderson Severino lost the plate. At one point, with two outs, 10 straight batters reached — nine walked, one was plunked.
Brice Turang got the lone hit, a two-run single. Jake Elliott, Birmingham’s fourth pitcher of the inning, came in and threw one pitch, getting a flyball for the final out.
On Wednesday, the Barons opened the season by sweeping a doubleheader from Biloxi, allowing one earned run in the twinbill.
A day later, it got wild.
“I always say when you come to the park, there’s a chance you’ll see something you’ve never seen before,” Bloom said. “Having called over 4,000 games, I can say this was one of them.”
Biloxi wound up drawing 16 walks overall.
Birmingham’s pitching coach is Richard Dotson, an All-Star who played 12 seasons in the majors. He went 22-7 in 1983 and boosted the White Sox into the AL Championship Series, albeit while leading the American League in walks.
The major league record for walks in an inning is nine. Chicago Cubs pitchers Moe Drabowsky, Jackie Collum and Jim Brosnan couldn’t find the plate against Cincinnati on April 24, 1957. The Reds scored seven runs in that inning with only one hit.
“Anytime you surpass, you crush a major league record, that’s saying something,” Bloom said.
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