The Midwest League saw one of the most remarkable games in minor league baseball history on Wednesday night. The Class-A Clinton LumberKings overcame a 16-run deficit to defeat the Burlington Bees, 20-17, in 12 innings.
Class-A Clinton rallies from 16 runs down to beat Burlington, 20-17
A comeback from down 17-1 after five innings in a game that featured grand slams by both catchers, 19 unanswered runs by the winning team and a perfect save by a position player making his first appearance on a mound.
The Bees, an Angels affiliate, scored nine times in the fifth inning, delighting the home crowd with a 17-1 lead punctuated by a grand slam off the bat of catcher Cambric Moye.
It's just one of those games. Burlington sends 12 men to the plate in the 5th, nine cross the plate. It's 17-1 Bees after 5
— Clinton LumberKings (@LumberKings) May 8, 2014 That's when everything went downhill for Burlington. Clinton, a Mariners farm team, rallied for six runs in the sixth, but still trailed by 10 runs.
A five-run eighth inning pulled Clinton to within 17-12, and with only a five-run lead the locals in Iowa started to get worried (thanks to Bill Pearson):
Burlington brought in Ben Carlson to start the ninth with a five-run advantage. But after getting Burt Reynolds — no, not that Burt Reynolds, though the road stadium greeted his at-bats with "Eastbound and Down" — to ground out, Carlson allowed four straight singles to allow Clinton to pull to within 17-13, with the bases loaded.
Bases loaded, one out in the 9th. One run in. @mlittlewood9 represents the TYING RUN at the plate. It's 17-13. It was once 17-1. #noquit
— Clinton LumberKings (@LumberKings) May 8, 2014 Alan Busenitz was brought in to face catcher Marcus Littlewood, and was promptly greeted with a game-tying grand slam.
If you’re keeping track, that’s a grand slam for each catcher, and a 16-run lead evaporated in four short innings. Both teams headed to extras tied at 17-17.
At this point, Burlington was simply too stunned to tweet anything substantive. After all, what can you say after blowing a 16-run lead with just 12 outs to play?
Extra innings
— Burlington Bees (@BurlingtonBees) May 8, 2014 But the LumberKings were knee deep in the throws of a passionate comeback, resorting to all caps.
WE'RE GOIN' TO THE 10TH BABY. 17-17!
— Clinton LumberKings (@LumberKings) May 8, 2014 It got weirder.
Both teams were held scoreless in both the 10th and 11th innings, but Clinton loaded the bases in the 12th. Justin Seager grounded out to score the go-ahead run, then second baseman Lonnie Kauppila singled home two more runs to make it 20-17 Clinton.
Nineteen unanswered runs were scored by the LumberKings.
Kauppila, a 22-year-old second baseman hitting .234/.300/.266 on the season, took the mound in the bottom of the 12th inning, his first time pitching as a professional. In a save situation.
The position player retired the side in order, including a foul pop to Littleton behind the plate to clinch the win.
More all-caps tweets:
PUT IT IN THE BOOKS BABY! 20-17 FINAL. DOWN 17-1 AFTER FIVE INNINGS. HISTORY IN BURLINGTON...THE LUMBERKINGS COMPLETE THE COMEBACK. @MiLB
— Clinton LumberKings (@LumberKings) May 8, 2014 No voice, so I'll type my feelings. COMEBACK KINGS: THE @LUMBERKINGS JUST WON 20-17...DOWN 17-1 AFTER 5 INNINGS. I just broadcasted history.
— CTrey Reiter (@CheyneReiter) May 8, 2014 The two teams combined for 37 runs on 35 hits and 15 walks, but it wasn’t the highest scoring game in league history.
With a combined 37 runs, the Burlington-Clinton game falls 11 runs short of #MWL League record: Dubuque (36) vs. Paris (12), Aug. 29, 1956.
— Ash Marshall (@AshMarshallMLB) May 8, 2014
But it might have been the craziest game in Midwest League history.
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