Mariners Epic 9th Inning Loss to Angels One of Biggest Blown Leads All-Time
It's NOT the biggest 9th inning comeback in Baseball history, but the Mariner's 10-9 loss to the Angels on Sunday is believed to have tied the biggest blown 9th inning lead in club history.
It was all over the sports channel shows Monday. The Mariners took a 9-3 lead into the 9th inning in Anaheim, only to see it wither away when Cliff Pennington hit a two-run single that brought home Mike Trout with the winning walkoff run.
Five of the runs came with two outs on the scoreboard. It was not the biggest late collapse in Mariner history. That likely came in April 1992, when Seattle gave up 9 runs to the Rangers with two outs on the board in the 8th inning, losing the game 12-10 in their home opener.
But from what we could discover, it appears to TIE the franchise record for biggest 9th inning collapse.
Even the Mariner's own officials website doesn't have such statistics listed (blown leads, biggest comebacks etc). But we did find out in 2001, Seattle also allowed Cleveland 7 runs in the 9th, as the Indians came back to win 9-8.
Where does this stand vs all of Major League Baseball? A little short, actually. The two biggest 9th inning comebacks we could find were the Braves, who scored 9 in the 9th to beat the Reds on May 20th 2010, and the Rockies, who also made up a 9 run deficit, and then some, to beat the Cardinals 12-9 on July 6, 2010.
There have been bigger overall comebacks, but we were only looking for 9th inning rallies.
But what's most disturbing about Sunday's loss is the Mariners dropped to the cellar in the American League West with a 1-6 record. Yes, it's early, but not looking so good for a team expected to challenge for the AL West title this year.