Baltimore Orioles: Setting Another Franchise Record with Cal Ripken Jr

Yes, there’s the one day when the Baltimore Orioles gave up the most runs in MLB history. But, today, we’re not looking at that notorious feat.

Instead, we’re looking at the day when the Baltimore Orioles with the help of Cal Ripken Jr.set a franchise record for the most runs scored.

The record was set on this day in 1999. They Orioles played the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field under the lights. At the time, the ’99 Orioles were 25-36 facing the 37-25 NL East team.

Keep in mind, the Braves went to the World Series that year and lost to the Yankees in a four-game sweep.

On this day in 1999, the Orioles embarrassed the Braves by a score of 22-1. This game set a franchise record for run scored in one game by the Orioles. Prior to 1999, the most run scored by the O’s was actually by the St. Louis Browns when they defeated the Detroit Tigers on August 18, 1951 20-9.

The Orioles only held the 22-point run record for one season. In 2000, the team scored 23 runs against the Toronto Blue Jays on September 28, 2000. Despite a sub-.500 year, the O’s went out with a bang at the end of 2000 scoring 52 runs in the last four games of that year.

The 23-run record from that day in 2000 still stands. But let’s quickly look at the 1999 game.

On June 13, 1999, the day promised to be an epic pitching duel as Mike Mussina faced John Smoltz. Interleague play had only begun in 1997, so duels like these were still somewhat novel. Mussina ended up pitching an absolute beauty that day, giving up five hits and one run in seven innings.

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Smoltz’s day wasn’t so great. He couldn’t make it out of the third before giving up seven hits and seven runs. Bobby Cox replaced him with Justin Speier for 2.2 innings, and he gave up seven hits and six more runs. By the end of the game, the O’s scored in all but the second and eighth innings. The team’s biggest inning was the first, when the team scored five runs off of the Hall of Fame pitcher.

Of the starters for the O’s, only Brady Anderson did not score a run that day. But, he earned two RBI. The hero of the game was Ripken who went 6-6 with two home runs. He had a total of 13 bases that day and scored 5 of the 23 runs.

The other player who had a day was Will Clark who went 4-4 with three doubles and a home run. He ended up with 10 bases, and was eventually replaced in the 7th inning by Jeff Conine who also managed to earn a run off of a walk. Even Mussina got in on the action going 2-5 with a double and a single on the day!

The Orioles only gave up one run. In the fourth, Brian Jordan singled off of Mussina only to be scored on a sac fly from Ryan Klesko. That was it.

The 22-1 win was the final game of a three-game series against the Braves in Atlanta. The Orioles swept the NL champions in that series.