The Red Sox Score 17 Runs in One Inning

On June 18, 1953, the Boston Red Sox sent 23 men to the plate in the seventh inning against the Detroit Tigers and scored 17 runs. It was, and remains, the most runs scored by any team in a single inning in modern major league history.

The game at Fenway Park was already a blowout before the seventh. Boston led 5-3 heading into the inning, and what followed was a procession of hits, walks, and errors that turned a competitive game into something absurd. The Red Sox collected 14 hits in the inning alone. Gene Stephens, a 20-year-old outfielder, became the only modern player to collect three hits in a single inning. Catcher Sammy White scored three runs during the frame, a modern record for a single inning.

Detroit used three pitchers trying to stop the bleeding. None of them could. Steve Gromek, Dick Weik, and Earl Harrist combined to allow those 17 runs. Tigers manager Fred Hutchinson watched from the dugout as the inning dragged on for nearly an hour.

The final score was 23-3. Boston finished with 27 hits for the game. Every Red Sox starter got at least one hit. The box score reads less like a baseball game than like a batting practice log.

Stephens's three-hit inning stood alone for 50 years until Johnny Damon matched it for the Red Sox on June 27, 2003. The 17-run inning itself has never been matched in the modern era.

The Tigers flew home from Boston having given up 23 runs. Hutchinson, who would later manage the 1961 Reds to the pennant, had nothing useful to say about it afterward.