Crooked Numbers: Behold, the wind-blown balk
Welcome to Crooked Numbers, a compendium of bizarre, improbable and hilarious Minor League on-field occurrences. Over the first half of the 2017 season there were, of course, plenty such moments. What follows are some of the best (and worst), in no particular order.
Welcome to Crooked Numbers, a compendium of bizarre, improbable and hilarious Minor League on-field occurrences. Over the first half of the 2017 season there were, of course, plenty such moments. What follows are some of the best (and worst), in no particular order.
Balking in the wind
A powerful gust caused Salt Lake starter
On dog-themed day, rogue rabbit delays game
So much to unpack here from this Midwest League contest from April 23. A week after Easter and on a "Bark in the Park" promotional day at Modern Woodmen Park, the afternoon belonged to a bunny. That's right, Clinton's 5-4 win at Quad Cities was delayed briefly as a rabbit ran across the field.
"I've never seen anything like it," said River Bandit
And then a snake showed up
You might be OK with a cute, fuzzy rabbit bouncing around the infield, but how about a snake? That's what happened May 7 during a Triple-A game between Reno and Sacramento, causing infielders and umpires to recoil in fear. Fortunately, a member of the River Cats grounds crew saved the day, grabbing a bucket and a shovel to remove the creature.
"I didn't really notice it at first, but then I looked down and it was right at my feet," Reno infielder
And then a bee?
We found out May 10 who would win in a fight between a pirate and a bee. Marauders right-hander
Sky Sox turn 5-4-2-3 triple play
There have been five triple plays in the Minors this season, but none weirder than the one turned by Colorado Springs on May 24. MiLB.com's Josh Jackson summarized:
"With New Orleans pitcher
Two walk-offs, one player
Thunder lose, add Domingo
The Double-A Trenton Thunder, in the end, maintained its number of Domingos. On May 18, the Yankees affiliate saw right-hander
Adams plays in Minors, Majors on same day
Lane Adams has remained with Atlanta since getting interrupted while grocery shopping on June 7. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
On June 7, center fielder
Adams had an interesting anecdote after the busy day:
"I actually live closer to SunTrust," he said of Atlanta's stadium. "I was driving back home from the [Gwinnett] game and saw the traffic going back toward Gwinnett that was really backed up. I remembered the traffic and was like, 'Oh, boy, this could take a while.' And it did. I was like, 'Oh man, I'm glad I'm not sitting in that stuff.' And then an hour later, I was sitting in that stuff."
Adams said he was in the middle of grocery shopping when he was summoned to the Majors.
"I had my shopping basket at Kroger and put everything back where I got it, got back in my car, had to go back to Gwinnett and pack up some stuff," he said. "I sat in traffic for about an hour and a half."
Games that went really, really long...
Everyone likes a little free baseball, some extra innings here and there -- with limits, perhaps. South Bend and Clinton couldn't settle things May 5 and, eventually, the umpires said they'd seen enough. After 18 grueling innings, the Class A game was suspended due to a league curfew rule. At the time it was stopped, the 6-6 game had already featured a dozen pitchers, 39 strikeouts and 14 walks. It all came to an end the following day when Cubs infielder
...so long, an umpire needed a bathroom break
Boise and Eugene topped that with a 20-inning affair that started July 4 and ended in the wee hours of July 5. The Northwest League contest was finally decided on a two-run, inside-the-park homer by
"Wow," Boise starting pitcher
River Cats go crazy
Sacramento really hung a crooked number on Colorado Springs with a 13-run inning on May 11. The River Cats fell three runs shy of the Pacific Coast League record for most runs in a single frame, but no one was complaining in their dugout after the top of the seventh.
Snyder does it all...
May 13 was a memorable day for multi-dimensional
...but Ramirez does it even better
Exactly two months after Snyder's performance for Syracuse, infielder-turned-reliever
Oh nuts! That hurt
Peoria pitchers were lucky to avoid inciting a brawl on May 3 after hitting six Lansing Lugnuts batters. Yes, six in one game, a feat that set a Midwest League single-game record. According to the Lugnuts, the total matched the Major League record for single-game beaned batters, which last happened in 1913 by the Yankees against the Washington Senators.
May 3 was full of weird stuff -- when Syracuse hosted Pawtucket, the Chiefs walked 10 times but failed to get a runacross in a 7-0 loss. Syracuse somehow went 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position that day, stranding 14 men.
DSL Angels score eight with one hit
It was an ugly half inning of baseball in the Dominican Republic on June 14 when the DSL Angels scored eight times despite getting only one hit. The top of the ninth featured six walks issued by the DSL Mets, four wild pitches and two errors.
Ventura allows 11 unearned runs
Biloxi starter
Ventura was charged with 11 unearned runs over two innings. He allowed six hits and three walks in a game in which the Shuckers made nine errors. The Biscuits scored six runs in the first after an error by shortstop
Vosler finds power stroke in a big way
Cubs prospect
They ran out of K signs
Class A Beloit and Peoria combined for 13 hits in 12 innings on June 26, impressive considering batters on both sides couldn't stop striking out. The Midwest League contest featured 38 K's, including 23 from Peoria's lineup. Every Chiefs player struck out at least twice, and all but two Snappers batters fanned at least once.
Infield fly "triple"
Springfield Cardinals outfielder
Anti-climatic ending
Beloit and Kane County endured 17 innings of scoreless Midwest League action on April 19 in a game that tested the patience of players and fans thanks to a two-and-a-half-hour rain delay. How did it all end, finally?
Roughly seven hours after first pitch, the marathon reached the finish line when the Cougars'
Danny Wild is an editor for MiLB.com. Follow his MLBlog column, Minoring in Twitter.