Credit: Photo: Michael Dwyer/AP PHOTO
On Friday night (22), the Toronto Blue Jays scored the biggest win since the franchise’s inception in 1976. The team beat the Boston Red Sox 28-5, the biggest number of points scored in the history of the team.
In the entire game, Toronto went scoreless in just two innings – the seventh and eighth. In all others, the team scored at least one point. The fifth set was the best for the Canadians, with 11 runs scored. Of the players who started as starters, all had at least two hits and one RBI (except Alejandro Kirk, who didn’t push any of his teammates).
In one of the more bizarre plays of the match, Ramiel Tapia hit a fly ball down the middle of the field. What looked like the last elimination of round three turned out to be a grand slam inside the park. On defense, Jarren Duran lost sight of the ball, which hit the wall, allowing all four players to easily reach home plate.
Oh, you know, just your mill run INSIDE-THE-PARK GRAND SLAM 😱
Raimel Tapia!
(Going through @Sportsnet)pic.twitter.com/4a92HpKlyr
– FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) July 23, 2022
Until then, Toronto’s record for most points in a game was against the Baltimore Orioles in June 1978, when the team scored 24 times.
To put the Toronto Blue Jays’ feat into perspective, on only 27 other occasions has a team scored more than 25 points in an MLB game. In the modern era, the record for points in a game belongs to the Texas Rangers, who beat the Orioles 30-3 in 2007. Considering the league’s entire history, the highest mark dates of 1897, when the Chicago Colts (current Cubs) defeated the Louisville Colonels (no longer in existence) by the score of 36-7.
On the other hand, it was the worst defensive performance in Red Sox history. Prior to Friday night, Boston’s most runs conceded in a game was 27, against the Cleveland Indians (now the Guardians) in 1923.
The historic defeat comes at a difficult time for the team. With the loss to Toronto, Boston gave up a total of 55 points in the last three games played – the New York Yankees beat the Red Sox 14-1 and 13-2 heading into the All-Star Game. The only other team to concede more runs in a three-game break was the St. Louis Browns (now Cardinals) in 1950, when the team allowed 56 runs.
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