The teams with the most runs in an inning in MLB history: numbers and records

The Arizona Diamondbacks’ bats thundered on 2024′s Opening Day, scoring 14 runs in the third inning of their game against the Colorado Rockies. The bombardment ended up at a whopping 16-1.

This barrage of runs actually places the D-Backs in fourth place for most runs in an inning since 1900, according to Elias Sports Bureau. The three teams with the most runs are the Boston Red Sox with 17; the Texas Rangers with 16, and the Brooklyn Dodgers with 15.

The Red Sox established the mark on June 18, 1953 by adding 17 runs to the scoreboard in the seventh inning against the Detroit Tigers. Boston started the inning with a 5-3 lead, but after 14 hits, five walks and a wild pitch made the score 22-3, the Sox achieved a mark that nobody has been able to better in 61 years.

Close but no cigar

In the case of the Rangers, Texas came within just one run of the Red Sox’s mark during the April 19, 1996 game against the Baltimore Orioles. Juan González, Dean Palmer and Kevin Elster drove in the most runs, with six for González and five each for Palmer and Elster.

The game was already a high scoring affair when the eighth inning rolled around with the score 10-7 in favor of the Rangers. But Texas exploded for 16 runs in the bottom half of the inning, churning through three Orioles pitchers.

The Dodgers’ held the record prior to the Red Sox taking it from them, when on May 21, 1952, Brooklyn as they were then scored 15 runs in the first inning against the Cincinnati Reds. They won the game 19-1 before relocating just six years later to Los Angeles. The Dodgers had 10 hits and left three men on base at the end of the inning.