They say everything is bigger in Texas. And while the Modern Era record for most runs in a game didn’t occur in the state, the Rangers brought that spirit to Baltimore’s Camden Yards on Aug. 22, 2007.
Texas scored 30 runs to Baltimore’s three in the first game of an eventual doubleheader sweep. The victory was so overwhelming that Marlon Byrd, who hit one of the Rangers’ two grand slams in the first game, described the event as “something weird.”
“We were out there shaking our heads,” Byrd said at the time.
And something even harder to believe is that Texas did not score a run in the first three innings, in which they even fell 3-0. The Rangers scored five in the fourth, nine in the sixth, 10 in the eighth and six in the ninth. As you can see herethe Orioles’ chance of winning plummeted fast.
That number of touchdowns is the most since the Chicago Colts beat the Louisville Colonels 36-7 on June 29, 1897, but Texas ranks atop the charts among teams to score 25 or more runs since 1900, the year that is considered the beginning of the Modern Era.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Ramon Vazquez were the bottom two hitters in the lineup, hitting two home runs apiece and combining for 14 RBIs.
“It was incredible,” Saltalamacchia confessed after the match. “It was ridiculous. I had never been to a match like this in my entire life. We were just hitting the ball. It only remains to laugh. Not that they made many mistakes. It was impressive. Everyone will remember it.”
Each Ranger who started the game had at least two hits and scored a run or more. The team added a total of 49 bases reached – a record for a game – thanks to 21 singles, two doubles and six home runs.
It was a special moment for rookie Travis Metcalf, who had been called up for the day and replaced Michael Young defensively in the seventh inning. Metcalf hit his first grand slam, his second career homer off Orioles right-hander Rob Bell, in the eighth.
“It was amazing, in all caps,” Metcalf noted.
In the end, the Rangers went 18-for-25 (.720) with runners in scoring position.
The Rangers completed the sweep in Game 2 with a 9-7 win, setting a record for most runs in a doubleheader in the American League with 39. The old mark was 36, set by the Detroit Tigers. before the Carmelites of San Luis on August 14, 1937.
“It was unbelievable,” then-Rangers manager Ron Washington told MLB.com. “The entire offense woke up. I had never seen anything like it”.
• The Rangers began the doubleheader batting .190 with 10 runs scored in their previous five games.
• The Rangers’ Wes Littleton pitched three scoreless innings out of the bullpen and earned his first save of the year, securing a…27-run lead!
• For Baltimore, hits and runs allowed are the most allowed in their history.
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When Texas scored 30: “It only remains to laugh”