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The Yankees’ offense in 1933 was rather prolific. They scored 927 runs in the 150 games they played, which is over six per game. Despite that advantage, they still finished second in the American League and missed out on the World Series. However, that powerful offense provided for at least one memorable game that season.
The Yankees were in first on June 3, 1933 when they welcomed the fourth-place Philadelphia Athletics. Don Brennan got the start for the Yankees that day. In his ninth ever game, and his sixth career start, his first two innings went pretty cleanly. He walked one in the second, but the game was scoreless heading into the bottom of the second.
In the bottom of the second, the Yankees picked up three runs on three hits and a walk. Brennan came back out for the top of the third and struck out the lead-off hitter. After two straight walks, an error by Tony Lazzeri, on what would a fielder’s choice ground out, loaded the bases.
The A’s then hit three straight doubles off Brennen. The third made it 4-3 and chased Brennen from the game. Danny MacFayden replaced him, but that didn’t go much better. MacFayden allowed a single that scored another run, and hit Pinky Higgins with a pitch. After getting a fly out, MacFayden allowed a walk, a single, and a double, making it 10-3.
MacFayden wouldn’t last the inning and also had to be taken out. Brennen and MacFayden combined for just 2.2 innings, allowing 10 earned runs on six hits and four walks.
Jumbo Brown came in for MacFayden and allowed a run-scoring single to the first batter he faced. He eventually got out of the inning by striking out Jimmie Foxx, but it was now 11-3.
The Yankees got a run back in the bottom of the third when Brown singled home a run, but they were still down seven runs. And then the fifth inning happened. Lazzeri led off the fifth with a home run, atoning somewhat for his earlier mistake. Arndt Jorgens and Frankie Crosetti followed that with back-to-back singled before Brown flew out.
A single and a pair of errors scored another two runs for the Yankees, cutting into the deficit further. After a Babe Ruth walk, Lou Gehrig hit a two-run double. Ben Chapman followed that with a three-run home run, and suddenly, the Yankees had the lead. The Yankees scored another two runs in the inning, capping off a ten-run frame. The Yankees came into the inning down seven runs, but left up three.
They tacked on another three runs runs in the eighth. And through all that, Brown was keeping Philadelphia off the board. Brown finished with 6.1 scoreless innings, striking out 12 while allowing five hits and five walks. The Yankees came away with a 17-11 win.
Wins are not likely when you allow double digit runs in an inning. However, when you’re the 1933 Yankees, you can just respond with a double digit inning and win anyway.
Sources
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA193306030.shtml
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/brenndo01.shtml