‘That was wild.’ Blue Jays revisit record-smashing 11-run inning — suitable for framing

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This article was published 12/09/2021 (1504 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

You may already know how it went, but it’s worth repeating.

The seventh inning was a frame to remember in the Blue Jays’ doubleheader sweep of the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday night.

The Jays, remarkably, had been no-hit through six innings in the second game by Orioles starter Keegan Akin, who entered with a 7.00 ERA for the season and 6.75 ERA against the Jays.

“Their guy was doing an outstanding job … getting people out, off-balance,” Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said post-game.

But after pulling out the opener of the twinbill in the final inning on George Springer’s two-run home run, they did it again — and more.

Single. Home run. Single.

The Jays took a 2-1 lead and Akin gave way to another left-hander, hard-throwing Tanner Scott.

Homer. Single. Single. Sacrifice fly. Single. Homer. Single.

Suddenly they were up 8-1. Orioles manager Brandon Hyde signalled for righty Manny Barreda.

Single. Home run.

The Jays started that final inning 11-for-11, including four home runs, and crossed the plate 11 times before it came to a close with two walks and a pair of line-outs.

Springer, in his first season as a Jay after seven years with the Houston Astros, said he’d never seen anything like it.

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“That was wild,” said Springer, who contributed a single to that rally. “The at-bats by Vladdy (Guerrero, who ended the no-hit bid with a single) and Bo (Bichette, who homered next) obviously are that whole inning. I just think it was one of those things where it just got contagious and you just saw quality at-bat after quality at-bat.”

The list of records broken or tied includes:

• Most hits and runs in a fourth inning or later by any MLB team that entered the frame with no hits, according to Elias Sports Bureau.

• First team to hit a go-ahead homer while trailing in the final scheduled inning of both games of a doubleheader.

• Multiple hits in the same inning by three players for the first time in Jays history: Guerrero (two singles), Bichette and Teoscar Hernández (both with a homer and single).

• The 11 runs matched the team record for any inning, accomplished three other times: July 20, 1984 (ninth inning, Seattle), April 26, 1995 (second inning, Oakland) and July 25, 2007 (sixth inning, Minnesota).

• Four home runs in the frame (Bichette, Hernández, Alejandro Kirk and Marcus Semien) also tied a franchise mark, first set on Aug. 17, 2001 against the Texas Rangers.

“Everybody feeds off of one another,” said Springer. “We understand that this is going to take every single person to get to where we ultimately want to go.”

For Montoyo, at 55 a baseball lifer, it was almost unbelievable: “It’s something I’ve never seen.”

Laura Armstrong is a Star sports reporter based in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @lauraarmy