The New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the Toronto Blue Jays’ Double-A affiliate, achieved a rare feat not seen in the post-expansion era.
Portland’s pitchers — New Hampshire’s opponent for a six-game series — combined for walks, wild pitches and hit batters, paving the way for the Fisher Cats to pull off the feat.
The Fisher Cats fell behind 2-0 early in Tuesday’s game against the Sea Dogs, the Eastern League affiliate of the Boston Red Sox.
But New Hampshire scored its first eight runs in the second inning without recording a single base hit.
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The Fisher Cats exploded for 10 runs in the inning — nine with two outs — on just one hit and no errors, the final box score in New Hampshire’s 12-7 win showed. The feat was fueled by Portland pitchers issuing eight walks and hitting two batters. Sea Dogs pitchers also uncorked four wild pitches and allowed a sacrifice fly and the inning’s lone hit.
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Sea Dogs president Geoff Iacuessa couldn’t believe what unfolded.
“I don’t ever remember seeing that here or any other game I’ve ever seen,” Iacuessa told Portland’s WGME Channel 13. “It was crazy. I thought maybe something was going on with the scoreboard, and then I checked the GameChanger, and it was correct.”
The rare moment happened amid frigid conditions that prompted the stadium’s ground crew to clear the playing grass and infield after heavy snow fell earlier in the day. Temperatures were just a few degrees above freezing at first pitch.
The inning unraveled quickly after a quiet start, when Portland starter Hayden Mullins issued two walks and uncorked a wild pitch despite striking out the side in the first. New Hampshire then broke through with a sacrifice fly.
Mullins eventually managed to record two outs, but then lost control, walking three straight to tie the game. Jorge Juan came on in relief but hit the first batter he faced with the bases loaded.
A wild pitch made it a 4-2 score, and a walk loaded the bases again for the Fisher Cats. Juan then hit a batter, making it 5-2, before firing another wild pitch to push the Sea Dogs deficit to four runs. Juan walked two more to push it to 7-2 before leaving the mound with a runner at each base again.
Cade Feeney took the hill next and finally stopped the leaking, but not before a wild pitch made it 8-2 and New Hampshire outfielder Ismael Munguia’s two-run single pushed the lead to 10-2.
Munguia represented his native Nicaragua in last month’s World Baseball Classic, appearing in four games.
Not even a team at the major league level has scored more than four runs in an inning without recording its first hit, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
MLB.com reports it has happened just 16 times in American League and National League history that a pitcher allowed five runs without surrendering a hit in 1⅔ innings or fewer.
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