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NEW YORK - The Texas Rangers smashed the American League baseball record for runs in one game with the biggest offensive outburst in the Major Leagues for 110 years when they routed the Orioles 30-3 in Baltimore on Thursday (NZ time).
Marlon Byrd and Travis Metcalf both hit grand slams and Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Ramon Vazquez hit two home runs each in the game, the first of a doubleheader at Camden Yards.
The Rangers then won the nightcap 9-7, and set a new American League record for most runs in a doubleheader with 39, beating the mark of 36 set by the Detroit Tigers against the St Louis Browns in 1937.
The record for runs scored in a single game is held by the Chicago Colts (now the Cubs), who beat the Louisville Colonels 36-7 in the National League in 1897.
No Major League team had scored 30 runs in a game since then until the Rangers ran riot.
"It was awesome," Texas manager Ron Washington said.
"The whole offence just came to life.
"I've never seen anything like it. I was hoping we would open up offensively but I wasn't expecting anything like that."
The Rangers did all their scoring in just four innings in the historic game after trailing 0-3 through three innings.
Texas scored five runs in the fourth, nine in the sixth, 10 in the eighth and six more in the ninth.
Every starter had at least two hits and scored at least one run in the game, with only right-fielder Nelson Cruz failing to get an RBI.
"It was great to be a part of," Metcalf said.
"It was amazing in capital letters."
In the modern era, two teams have scored 29 runs in a single game - the Boston Red Sox beat the St Louis Browns 29-4 in 1950 and the Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Athletics 29-6 in 1955.
- REUTERS
