Yankees Break Historic American League Record in Victory

The New York Yankees became the first team to score 13 runs in one inning, then no runs in any other inning, in a victory over the Athletics in West Sacramento on May 31.

Not only did the Yankees limit their scoring to the third inning only, but they also didn’t record a hit in any of the other seven innings in the game.

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According to the Elias Sports Bureau, only two other teams in American or National League history scored that many runs in one inning to account for all of their scoring: the Philadelphia Phillies on April 13, 2003 in Cincinnati, and the Atlanta Braves on Sept. 20, 1972.

Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe batted twice in the third inning, and was left in the on-deck circle when the inning ended on a Trent Grisham flyout.

“It was crazy,” Volpe told reporters. “It felt like I would run the bases, then I would get up, and I would have to put my stuff back on. So it was a cool feeling.”

All told, the Yankees batted 18 times in the inning against three different A’s pitchers.

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It was a good game for the four relievers - Jack Perkins, Mark Leiter, Jr., Luis Medina and José Suarez - who finished out the game. Unfortunately for them and the rest of the A’s, the game was well out of reach by the time Perkins took over with two outs in the third.

No team since MLB expanded from 16 teams in 1961 had scored as many as 13 runs while compiling all its hits in one inning, according to Elias.

Another notable record, per Elias: the first 12 Yankees batters in the third reached base safely, tying the record for the most consecutive batters reaching safely to start an inning before the first out in the expansion era.

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Not even the vaunted 1927 Yankees of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig ever scored 13 runs in an inning. The franchise record is 14, set on July 6, 1920, when Babe Ruth drew an intentional walk and later hit a two-run single in the fifth inning against the Washington Senators.

Nearly 126 years later, the Yankees saved their best for third.

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This story was originally published May 31, 2026 at 8:06 PM.