TODAYinBASEBALL.COM TAKES US TO ARLINGTON, TEXAS ON APRIL 19, 1996. The Texas Rangers ran up a heck of a score against the Baltimore Orioles on this date. The host Rangers showed no mercy in beating the Orioles 26 to 7. Both teams were in first place in their respective divisions at the time.
The game was relatively close into the bottom of the eighth, the Rangers last at bat if they were ahead, which they were; 10 – 7. But the Rangers scored an astounding 16 runs in an 8th inning that lasted almost an hour. No team ever scored that many runs in an 8th inning.
The inning consisted of a grand slam home run and an Oriole reliever walking four – three with the bases loaded. Some sniping developed between the managers, Davey Johnson for Baltimore and Johnny Oates for Texas. Each thought the other had run up the score in previous games
That was not the only time Texas and Baltimore were involved in a massive slugfest. Texas set a new record for the most runs scored in an American League game by beating Baltimore 30 to 3 August 22, 2007. But on this date the Rangers win by just 3 touchdowns.
CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
Runs scored records: Baseball-Almanac
April 19, 1996 box score, etc: Retrosheet