That Wild and Wooly 10-Run Twelfth Inning
PLUS: THESE LINEUPS SHOULD START THE ALL-STAR GAME
Pregame Pepper
Detroit has enjoyed five 100-win seasons but none since Sparky Anderson’s 1984 varsity won 104 games . . .
A two-run, 10th-inning homer by White Sox rookie Braden Montgomery in his first game Tuesday night ended Raisel Iglesias’ best-in-baseball streak of 31 straight converted save opportunities . . .
Since signing his five-year, $182 million Dodgers contract before the 2025 season, Blake Snell has pitched 64 1/3 regular-season innings while spending most of his time on the injured list along with teammate Tyler Glasnow . . .
Snell has one complete game on his resume: a no-hitter he threw while with the Giants in 2024 . . .
Fellow lefty Cristopher Sanchez was a much better investment for the Phillies, who gave him a six-year, $107 million extension under team control through 2033 . . .
Another pitching surprise, 35-year-old Nick Martinez of the Tampa Bay Rays, is the oldest man to allow two or fewer runs in his first 11 starts of any season . . .
Hard to believe the Dodgers once traded Yordan Alvarez to Houston for Josh Fields . . .
Also hard to believe: the Rays still owe $160 million to Wander Franco, their former All-Star shortstop, but think they’ll keep the money because the player won’t get the work visa he needs after legal problems in the Dominican.
Leading Off
5/18/26: Mets’ 10-Run 12th Wasn’t Even a Record For Extra Innings
By Andrew Sharp
The New York Mets scored 10 times in the 12th inning on their way to a 16-7 victory over the Nationals in Washington on May 19, 2026. Remarkably, the 10-spot did not set a record of any kind for most runs in any extra inning.
Thanks to the “Manfred Man” ghost runner, of course, most extra-inning games now end in the 10th or maybe the 11th. So the Mets’ outburst in the 12th certainly was an aberration. Extra-inning records of games longer than that are less likely to be broken.
Still, the 10 runs were the most scored by a team in any extra inning in more than 42 years. The Texas Rangers set the all-time record by scoring 12 in the 15th in beating the Oakland Athletics, 16-4 on July 3, 1983.
The Mets didn’t even set a 12th-inning record. The Yankees scored 11 in the 12th in beating the Tigers on July 26, 1928, in Detroit. Nor did the 10 runs set a new National League record. That was first accomplished by the eventual World Champion Cincinnati Reds on May 15, 1919, in the 13th inning during a victory in Brooklyn.
The Mets’ outburst, which did not include a home run, only tied the Reds for third place in MLB annals for the most runs in any modern-era extra inning. Second place is held by the 11 runs scored in the 10th inning by the Twins in beating the Athletics in Oakland on June 21, 1969.
Both the Mets and Nationals, however, set MLB highs for the season in the game. The Mets went into extra innings for the 10th time, most in the majors at the time, winning six. The frustrated Nationals left 19 runners on base, also an MLB high for 2026, despite entering the game tops in runs scored.
After hanging with the Mets through the 11th, the National had to call on reliever Paxton Schultz from their over-worked bullpen for a third consecutive day. The outburst began with a sacrifice bunt, moving the automatic runner to third.
That was the only out Schultz would record. Carson Benge hit a hard grounder that ticked off of the pitcher’s glove for a single to drive in the go-ahead run.
After Bo Bichette singled, Schultz intentional walked Juan Soto, loaded the bases. Vidal Brujan popped up a squeeze bunt that landed in front of a diving Schultz for a hit that drove in a second run to make it 8-6. Brett Baty then drove in two more with a single. Marcus Semien followed with a RBI-single.
Nats’ manager Blake Butera motioned for third baseman Jorbit Vivas to pitch, but the umpires told him that he couldn’t because of the new rule that a position player can’t take the mound unless his team is behind by at least six runs. After a delay during which Schultz actually had to trudge back to the mound briefly, a call to MLB officials reminded the umps that the rule doesn’t apply in extra innings.
Vivas proceeded to give up four more runs before getting the last two outs. The Nationals went down after scoring their meaningless phantom runner. Mets’ first baseman Mark Vientos had prevented them from winning the game in the 10th when he threw out what would have been the winning run on a bases-loaded force at the plate.
That, of course, would have meant the Mets would not have had their almost record 12th inning, but at four hours and eight minutes, at least it became the season’s longest game by time at that point.
Decide for yourself if it was boring.
Andrew C. Sharp is a retired newspaper journalist and a SABR member who lives in central New Jersey. He was raised in the D.C. area as a fan of Senators I and II. Since 2017, he has written about D.C. baseball at washingtonbaseballhistory.com
Cleaning Up
Picking Fair and Rational All-Star Lineups
By Dan Schlossberg
This column is not — repeat, not — an endorsement of fans picking All-Star lineups.
Selection should be an honor, not a popularity contest, and voters should not be allowed to vote more than once — or encouraged to vote for hometown heroes by local ballclubs.
That being said, the leagues involved in the 2026 All-Star Game need the best lineups in order to protect the integrity of the game.
As a historian, fan, and author who has covered every All-Star Game since 1971, these are the lineups I would select if given a chance:
American League
C. Shea Langeliers, Athletics
1B. Nick Kurtz, Athletics
2B. Ernie Clement, Blue Jays
SS. Bobby Witt, Jr., Royals
3B. Josh Jung, Rangers
OF. Yordan Alvarez, Astros
OF. Byron Buxton, Twins
OF. Cody Bellinger, Yankees (Judge injured)
DH. Ben Rice, Yankees
National League
C. Drake Baldwin, Braves
1B. Matt Olson, Braves
2B. Brice Turang, Brewers
SS. Otto Lopez, Marlins
3B. Max Muncy, Dodgers
OF. Brandon Marsh, Phillies
OF. Andy Pages, Dodgers
OF. Michael Harris II, Braves
DH. Kyle Schwarber, Phillies (Ohtani injured)
HtP weekend editor Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ has never filled out a fan ballot for the All-Star Game — as a matter of principle. His email is ballauthor@gmail.com.
Timeless Trivia: Some Hitters Just Aren’t
The worst hitters in the major leagues at the moment are Sandy Leon and Austin Wynnes. Unfortunately, they are both catchers with the Atlanta Braves, who won’t get regular receiver Drake Baldwin back until next week . . .
Both are true rivals to original Met Choo Choo Coleman (.197 lifetime despite that great nickname) . . .
The worst hitter in MLB history by career batting average was Bill Bergen, a backstop who posted a .170 batting average (516 hits in 3,028 at-bats from 1901 to 1911). For qualified single-season hitters, Chris Davis holds the record for the lowest batting average with a .168 mark in 2018 . . .
Ray Oyler, a good-field, no-hit infielder for the Tigers, had no teeth in his bat (.175 career average from 1965-70), forcing manager Mayo Smith to move center-fielder Mickey Stanley to shortstop during the 1968 World Series . . .
Dan Uggla, a power-hitting second baseman, and Rob Deer, a strikeout-prone outfielder, both turned in pathetic .179 batting averages . . .
When pitchers were allowed to bat, Bob Buhl of the Milwaukee Braves suffered the most futility, going 0-for-70 in 1962 . . .
And there was Atlanta Braves right-hander Rick Camp, whose .074 career batting average resulted from 13 hits in 197 plate appearances from 1976-1985 . . .
One of those hits was a two-out, two-strike, 18th-inning home run in Atlanta Fulton County Stadium in a rain-interrupted game that started on July 4, 1985 . . .
The only home run of Camp’s career tied the game, which the New York Mets finally won, 16-13, after six hours and ten minutes (not counting rain delays).
Know Your Editors
Here’s the Pitch is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles the Monday issue with Dan Freedman [dfreedman@lionsgate.com] editing Tuesday and Jeff Kallman [easyace1955@outlook.com] at the helm Wednesday and Thursday. Original editor Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com], does the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Former editor Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] is now co-director [with Benjamin Chase and Jonathan Becker] of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, which publishes this newsletter and the annual ACTA book of the same name. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HtP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.