During a radio interview on Wednesday, San Diego Padres executive chairman Ron Fowler referred to the team as “miserable failures”.
Well, we can’t even imagine what Fowler would say right now, after the Padres blew a 10-run lead to the Seattle Mariners in a 16-13 loss at Petco Park on Thursday night.
It seemed the Padres were in full control of the game after a seven-run fifth inning that gave them a 12-2 lead. But then the Mariners scored five runs in the top of the sixth to make it a five-run game.
And then came the top of the seventh… yikes. Nine runs for the Mariners, all with two outs in the inning. What had been a 12-2 lead for the Padres after five innings, became after a 16-12 Mariners lead after the top of the seventh.
Here’s video of the amazing comeback:
First 5 innings
Padres 12
Mariners 2Last 2 Innings
Mariners 14
Padres 0— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 3, 2016
Making the nine-run inning even more incredible — and surely more maddening for the Padres — is that all of the runs came on singles (screencap via MLB.Com):
According to Fangraphs’ win probabilities, the Padres had a 99.9% chance to win after the fifth inning, and just a 5.3% chance to win after the seventh:
Some more notable nuggets from this game:
- Per @ESPNStatsInfo: This was the Mariners’ largest deficit ever overcome for a win, and the Padres’ largest lead ever blown in a loss.
- Also per @ESPNStatsInfo: The Mariners are the first team to win a game in which they trailed after five innings, since 2001. In that 2001 game, it was the Mariners blowing a 12-run lead in a loss to the Cleveland Indians. You may remember this insane game, which was on Sunday Night Baseball:
- The Mariners went an absolutely ridiculous 11-of-12 at the plate with runners in scoring position.
- The 29 combined runs were the most in a game since the Mariners lost 22-10 to the Boston Red Sox last August, according to @StatsCentre.
- Despite the 29 runs scored, there were only two home runs, six extra-base hits, and five walks between the two teams.
- Four pitchers in this game gave up more earned runs than they got outs (three pitchers did this for the Padres, one for the Mariners).
What a wacky game, and what a win for the Mariners. The victory keeps the M’s tied with the Texas Rangers for first place in the AL West.
As for the Padres, well, their executive chairman was probably right.