Runs and then some: Rare 200+ day in MLB

Jared Walsh’s game-tying grand slam off Aroldis Chapman in the top of the ninth inning at Yankee Stadium was notable beyond the immediate shock it sent through the Bronx.

When Walsh touched home after his huge blast, he did so as the 201st run of the day (well, technically the _previous day_; it was after midnight in New York) across American and National League action. Per the Elias Sports Bureau, Wednesday’s slate marked the first calendar day in which AL/NL teams combined to score at least 200 runs since Sept. 26, 2009 -- meaning it’s been well over a decade since we’ve seen the kind of scoring we saw Wednesday and early Thursday morning.

The final tally rested at 204 runs after the Angels sealed a rain-soaked 11-8 victory in the Bronx, only 18 runs shy of the AL/NL Modern Era record of 222 combined runs set on June 10, 1962, per Elias. The Angels' win was only one-half of the day’s most impressive comebacks; in Milwaukee, the Brewers saw the Cubs score seven first-inning runs and then responded by scoring 15 unanswered runs of their own in a 22-run game that, incredibly, saw just one lead change. Per ESPN Stats and Info, the Cubs joined the Giants (April 26, 1976) as the only teams in the past 50 seasons to score seven runs in the first inning, only to lose by seven or more runs.

Meanwhile, the Angels' and Brewers’ comebacks made history.

While there were fewer teams back in 1962, when the AL/NL Modern Era record for the highest-scoring day was set, that day in question featured 20 games on the calendar, as all 20 teams in existence played doubleheaders. Wednesday’s schedule featured 15 games and three teams scored at least 15 runs. Six teams put up at least 10 runs and 20 teams scored at least five times. Not a single team was shut out.

The highest scorer of the night? That would be the Braves, who released weeks of offensive frustration by blasting the rival Mets, 20-2. Ronald Acuña Jr. kicked things off with a loud 113.3 mph, 447-foot leadoff homer, and Ozzie Albies took things from there with five hits, two homers and a career-high seven RBIs. Both Albies and Freddie Freeman came home four times for Atlanta.

With all of the scoring just mentioned, we haven’t even gotten to Trea Turner, who recorded his record-tying third career cycle (and became the first player to cycle on his birthday) in a 15-6 Nationals rout over the Rays. Even Mississippi State put up nine runs on Kumar Rocker and Vanderbilt in the College World Series Finals in Omaha.

Simply put, it was a hitters’ day in baseball.