Rangers romp past Orioles, 26-7

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
(April 20, 1996)

ARLINGTON, Texas - The Texas Rangers scored 16 runs in the eighth inning - one short of the modern major league record - and scored the most runs by an AL team in 41 years Friday night, routing the Baltimore Orioles 26-7.

Kevin Elster's grand slam off backup infielder Manny Alexander highlighted the biggest eighth inning in baseball history.

Juan Gonzalez homered and drove in six runs, Dean Palmer homered twice and Will Clark also connected in the highest-scoring game by an AL team since Chicago beat Kansas City 29-6 on April 23, 1955. The Rangers combined eight hits and eight walks in the eighth against Armando Benitez, Jesse Orosco and Alexander, the first position player to pitch for the Orioles since catcher Jeff Tackett in 1993. Alexander walked four, three with the bases loaded, and gave up Elster's slam.

Texas posted its biggest inning ever, breaking the mark of 12 in the 15th inning against Oakland on July 3, 1983.

The Chicago Cubs scored 26 runs last season in Colorado. The White Sox, in 1955, and Boston in 1950 hold the modern record of 29 runs in a game. The Red Sox set the modern record of 17 runs in an inning on June 18, 1953.

A crowd of 41,184, largest of the season at The Ballpark in Arlington, saw Will Clark hit a solo homer in the fifth inning that put Texas ahead for good at 7-6. The Rangers have won nine of 10 home games.

The game lasted 4 hours, 15 minutes, one minute short of the AL record for a nine-inning game and three minutes shy of the major league mark.

Brady Anderson led off the game with a home run for Baltimore. The Orioles, who began with the best record in the majors, lost their second in a row for the first time this season.
Palmer hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning and another two-run shot in the eighth, and finished with five RBIs. Gonzalez hit a three-run homer, highlighting a five-run first inning, and had a two-run double in the eighth.

Darryl Hamilton had four of Texas' 19 hits and also walked.

Clark opened the fifth inning with a home run off Kent Mercker (1-1). Mickey Tettleton walked with one out and Palmer met reliever Jimmy Myers with a 430-foot drive to center field.

Dennis Cook (1-0) pitched three innings of two-hit relief for the win. He left in the seventh with runners on second and third, and Cal Ripken's single off Gil Heredia made it 9-7. The Rangers escaped further trouble when Hamilton made a running catch on B.J. Surhoff's drive to center field.
Rusty Greer's RBI double in the seventh pushed the Rangers lead to 10-7.

Ed Vosberg pitched 1 1-3 innings for his fourth save.

Ivan Rodriguez hit an RBI triple, setting up Gonzalez's home run in the first. Texas led 6-1, but starter Roger Pavlik walked three and threw a wild pitch in the fourth as the Orioles tied it.