Page 33 – Most runs, extra inning – 12, Texas at Oakland, July 3, 1983, 15th inning

In a game that had little scoring the first six innings, then a bunch in innings 7 through 9, then none from innings 10-14, the Texas Rangers ended up having the longest delayed rout in major league history, scoring 12 times in the 15th inning of a 5:19 long game at the Oakland Coliseum.

Texas, under manager Doug Rader, was the surprising leader in the AL West by two games over the defending division champion Angels. Oakland, which had replaced Billy Martin after he laid waste to the pitching staff, was under the direction of Steve Boros. Charlie Hough started the game for Texas and Jeff Jones started for Oakland.

The only scoring for the first six innings came in the top of the fourth when third baseman Buddy Bell and right fielder Larry Parrish hit back-to-back homers to give the Rangers a 2-0 lead. Rickey Henderson was enjoying Hough's knuckleballs and swiped three bases (and a fourth off a different pitcher), but Oakland couldn't cash any of them in against Hough.

The A's finally got on the board in the bottom of the seventh. Designated hitter Mitchell Page led off with single. Pinch-hitter Mike Davis hit into a force play and Dan Meyer pinch ran and moved to second on a wild pitch by Hough. After Henderson popped out, Rangers first baseman Pete O'Brien kept the inning alive with an error on a Rick Peters grounder. (Rader was ejected for arguing the call at first.) Then Rangers catcher Jim Sundberg couldn't stop another Hough knuckler and Meyer scored on a passed ball.

The Rangers added another run in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Bell, but the A's got the run back in the bottom of the 8th on a Carney Lansford homer and trailed 3-2 going to the 9th.

George Wright led off for Texas and singled and went to second when Henderson misplayed the ball. Bob Jones drove in Wright to make it 4-2.

But the A's rallied in the bottom of the 9th against Texas reliever Dave Schmidt. Henderson singled to lead off the inning and then stole second. Schmidt struck out Peters and Davey Lopes, but Wayne Gross singled to score Henderson to make it 4-3. Tony Phillips ran for Gross and moved on to second on a single by Lansford and then came around to score the tying run on a single by Bill Almon.

Then, everybody at the Coliseum, got to sit around and watch two teams spins their wheels for five innings. The Rangers did manage to load the bases in the 14th against Oakland's Dave Beard, but Jim Anderson and Mickey Rivers both flied out to end the threat. Oakland only got one runner into scoring position, Lopes in the 13th, but Phillips struck out against Odell Jones to end the inning.

Finally, it was time for the fateful 15th. Bucky Dent led off with a walk. Bell singled Dent to second. That brought up Parrish, the biggest power threat on the Rangers. But all Parrish could manage was a little dribbler back to Beard, but that did allow the runners to advance to second and third. Wright drew an intentional walk and Boros tried to use the career AAAA player Jones as an escape hatch. That didn't work out as Jones doubled to right to score two (1,2). Wright then came home on a Beard wild pitch. (3). After a walk to backup catcher Bob Johnson, Boros brought in rookie Ben Callahan, who was acquired from the Yankees on June 15 for Matt Keough.

Callahan was not the answer. Larry Biittner singled to score Jones (4). Anderson walked to load the bases. Rivers then hit a chopper to Lopes who tried for the force at second, but threw the ball over the head of Phillips to score Johnson and Biittner (5, 6) and send Anderson to third. Batter #10 of the inning, Dent, singled to score Anderson (7) and Rivers went to third. Bell singled to scored Rivers (8) and Dent went to second. Left out to die, Callahan gave up another hit, a double to Parrish that scored Dent and Bell (9, 10). Wright flied out to left for the second out, but Jones followed with his second double of the inning to score Parrish (11). Johnson singled in Jones (12) before Biittner ended the bloodshed with a fly out to left.

But the A's wouldn't go down without a fight. Well, actually they did. Down 12 runs after playing for five hours, Oakland went down in order against Jones as Jeff Burroughs and Mike Heath struck out and Henderson flied out to center to end the game.

Callahan was sent to the minors after the game and he never returned to the big leagues.

The Rangers had 21 hits on the day, 8 of them in the 15th inning. Jones had 5 hits and 4 RBIs for the game, but all of the RBIs came in the 15th inning.

The two teams met again on Monday, July 4 and the A's prevailed 4-3 in 9 innings.

Texas would soon lose its hold on first place as they went 8-20 in July and 12-19 in August. Tony La Russa got his White Sox to play 46-15 ball the last two months and they won the division by a staggering 20 games over Kansas City.

The Rangers 12 run extra inning broke the previous record of 11 when Minnesota did that on June 21, 1969 in the 10th inning against … Oakland. In that game, it was Paul Linblad, Lew Krausse, and Marcel Lachemann who were pounded and the A's committed three errors.

Sources: Retrosheet, Baseball-Reference.com, Sporting News Complete Baseball Record Book, Sporting News