In one of the most bizarre baseball games in recent history, the Baltimore Orioles beat the Boston Red Sox 9-6 in 17 innings yesterday at Fenway Park, giving the O’s a three-game sweep in Boston.
In the first major league game since 1925 where both teams used a position player as a pitcher, Orioles first baseman Chris Davis, who was the designated hitter yesterday, overcame a horrendous 0-8 day at the plate by pitching two scoreless innings and recording the win.
“I was like ‘Sweet! I get to try something different today – because hitting ain’t working,” Davis said. “Basically, that was my first thought.”
Adam Jones broke open a 6-6- tie with a three-run shot in the top of the 17th off Darnell McDonald, an outfielder the Boston put on the mound once they ran out of pitchers in their bullpen.
The Red Sox then put two runners on base in the bottom of the 17th against Davis. The first baseman, though, struck out Adrian Gonzalez and got McDonald to ground into a double play to end a game that took 6 hours and 7 minutes.
According to STATS LLC, the last time two baseball teams used position players to pitch in the same game was on October 4, 1925, when Hall of Famers Ty Cobb of Detroit and George Sisler of the St. Louis Browns closed out the second game of a doubleheader.
The last time a position player recorded the win was on May 25, 2011, when Philadelphia Phillies infielder Wilson Valdez threw a scoreless inning in a 19-inning win over the Cincinnati Reds.
“I was just out there trying to throw strikes and not blow the game,” Davis said. “In a game like that when everybody’s battling, trying to get a win, both teams are throwing everything they got at each other. You don’t want to blow it.”
Making the game even sweeter for those of us here in Baltimore, the Orioles are now in sole possession of first place and own the best record in baseball at 19-9.
As an added bonus, the Red Sox are last place in the AL East and the New York Yankees in fourth place. This is the first time since the current division format began in 1994 that the Red Sox and Yankees owned the bottom two spots in the division after May 1, according to STATS LLC.
Related articles
- Orioles outlast Red Sox 9-6 in 17-inning thriller; OF Chris Davis earns win (ballhyped.com)
- DH Davis Gets Win, O’s Outlast Red Sox in 17 (abcnews.go.com)
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