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.
Former Boston Red Sox Manager Bobby Valentine, 70, announced he is running for mayor of Stamford, Conn. Kathy Willens/Associated Press
BOBBY VALENTINE, the former Major League player and manager of the Boston Red Sox, is taking a swing at politics, announcing Friday that he’s running for mayor of his Connecticut hometown. Valentine, 70, who currently serves as the athletic director at Sacred Heart University, posted a video on social media and said he’ll run as an independent candidate in Stamford.
“The greatest commodity I have is my time and I want to give my time and my energy and my wherewithal back to the city that has given me so much over my lifetime,” he said.
Valentine, a Stamford native, was a three-sport high school star in the city. He was drafted in 1968 by the Los Angeles Dodgers and played in the Major Leagues from 1969 to 1979, where he was a lifetime .260 hitter.
He became manager of the Texas Rangers in 1985 and also skippered the New York Mets and Red Sox in addition to spending time in Japan, winning a Japan Series title in 2005 with the Chiba Lotte Marines.
Valentine, who owns a sports bar in Stamford, served as the city’s health and public safety director in 2011, before being hired by the Red Sox.
He joins a race that includes two Democrats: incumbent David Martin and state Rep. Caroline Simmons.
MAJOR LEAGUES
TWINS: Center fielder Byron Buxton was placed on the 10-day injured list because of a strained right hip.
The injury interrupts a stellar start for the 27-year-old Buxton, who is hitting .370 with nine home runs and five stolen bases. Buxton has played over 100 games just once in his big league career.
Minnesota also selected the contract of outfielder Trevor Larnach from Triple-A St. Paul.
REDS: First baseman Joey Votto was placed on the 10-day injured list because of a broken left thumb that could sideline him for a month.
Votto was struck on the thumb with a pitch by Chicago’s Dallas Keuchel on Wednesday. Votto is not expected to need surgery, but the team expects him to be out at least three weeks and maybe more. The 37-year-old is batting .226 with five homers and 17 RBI. He batted .286 and hit his 300th career home run on Reds’ recently completed homestand.
The Reds also reinstated outfielder Shogo Akiyama from the 10-day injured list. He had been out with a hamstring injury he sustained while running out a ground ball March 13, his last spring training appearance.
INDIANS: Catcher Roberto Pérez will be sidelined for at least two months following surgery on a fractured right ring finger. Pérez played in pain for several weeks with the fracture, which happened when he got crossed up by reliever James Karinchak on April 14 in Chicago. Pérez broke the finger on his throwing hand when he caught the pitch barehanded.
Pérez left the Indians’ series in Kansas City to visit hand specialist Dr. Thomas Graham, who performed the operation. Graham did surgery on Pérez’s broken right thumb almost exactly five years ago. He missed two months after that procedure.
Manager Terry Francona couldn’t provide a definitive timeline on how long Pérez will be out this time, but said it “it’s not weeks, but months.” Pérez’s loss is a big blow to the Indians, who lead the AL Central after winning nine of 11. He’s a two-time Gold Glove winner and handles one of the league’s best pitching staffs.
PHILLIES: Bryce Harper was in the starting lineup Friday after missing four games because of a sore left wrist, and second baseman Jean Segura was also in the lineup, coming off the 10-day injured list following a right quad strain.
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