August 12, 2008: Red Sox outlast Rangers, 19-17, in historic slugfest

On June 29, 1950, the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Athletics set an American League record by combining for 36 runs in Boston’s 22-14 win at Philadelphia’s Shibe Park. The outburst broke the AL’s old mark of 35 runs in a nine-inning game, set in 1901.1 Despite the high score, only one home run was hit – by Boston’s Ted Williams, who also had six RBIs in the game.2 

The Red Sox and Athletics’ 36-run output remained unmatched among AL games until the Red Sox took on the Texas Rangers on Tuesday, August 12, 2008, a clash of the AL’s best offense and worst pitching (the Rangers) and the AL’s second-best offense (the Red Sox).3 By the time the game was over – some 3 hours and 58 minutes after it began – it was a Red Sox win, 19-17. The 38,004 fans in attendance at sold-out Fenway Park had witnessed a record-tying performance.

The defending World Series champion Red Sox were in second place in the AL East Division, trailing the surprising Tampa Bay Rays by four games. Veteran Boston knuckleballer Tim Wakefield had been placed on the disabled list because of a sore shoulder, clearing the way for manager Terry Francona to start another knuckleball pitcher, 28-year-old right-hander Charlie Zink. It was the major-league debut for Zink, who had been coached by former Red Sox great Luis Tiant at Savannah College of Art and Design.

Signed by Boston in 2002, after a season in an independent league, Zink reached the majors in his seventh season in the Red Sox organization. He was enjoying the best season of his career, compiling a 13-4 record with a 2.89 ERA for the International League Pawtucket Red Sox. He pitched so well in 2008 that he was named the IL’s Pitcher of the Year.

The starting pitcher for manager Ron Washington’s Rangers was right-hander Scott Feldman, in his fourth year in the majors. He’d been a reliever with 73 appearances over his first three seasons but then became a starter, with a record of 4-5 and a 4.82 ERA before this game. The Rangers were second in the AL West Division, 14 games behind the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Zink got off to a nice start, retiring the Rangers in order in the top of the first.4 Backup catcher Kevin Cash – Boston’s backstop for all 30 of Wakefield’s starts in 2008 – was behind the plate.

In the bottom of the first, Boston leadoff batter J.D. Drew walked. Dustin Pedroia singled into center. David Ortiz swung at Feldman’s second pitch and homered over the Pesky Pole and deep into the seats in the right-field corner, his 15th home run of the season. After three batters, the Red Sox had a 3-0 lead.5

Kevin Youkilis struck out, but Mike Lowell singled to center. Third baseman Ramón Vázquez mishandled an easy hopper from Jason Bay and all were safe. With Jed Lowrie at the plate, Lowell and Bay pulled off a double steal, not even drawing a throw. Lowrie followed with an opposite-field double that glanced off the middle of the wall in straightaway left.6 It was 5-0, Red Sox.

Coco Crisp made the second out with a fly ball to center, then Cash drew a walk. It was back to the top of the order, and this time Drew singled to right field, driving in Lowrie. Pedroia picked up his second single of the inning, with the ball striking Feldman’s leg and bouncing toward third base. Swinging at the first pitch, Ortiz homered to straightaway center, just over the 420-foot sign, striking the wall and caroming into the bleacher seats – his second three-run homer of the game. It was 10-0. Feldman struck out Youkilis a second time and the inning was over.7

While being on the right side of a 10-0 lead in your first major-league start would’ve brought jubilation to most, it raised concerns for Zink, who had been waiting almost a half-hour to pitch again. In a 2024 interview, he recalled thinking, “I don’t know what to do. I might get cold.” He went on to say that he went to the batting cage behind the dugout, “just throwing balls against the net to stay loose.”8

Zink threw the first nine pitches of the second inning to designated hitter Milton Bradley, and walked him. Marlon Byrd singled. Zink then got two outs, but rookie Chris Davis singled in the two runners to make it a 10-2 game.

Feldman, still in the game, retired the Red Sox in the second with only a double by Lowrie.

Zink gave up a couple of singles but no runs in the top of the third. With one out in the Boston third, Drew singled and Pedroia singled, bringing up Ortiz with the opportunity to hit yet another three-run homer. Instead, Feldman got him to ground out, second to first. A walk followed and the bases were loaded. Washington finally called on the bullpen, and Josh Rupe came on in relief. Lowell walked on four pitches, forcing in run number 11. Bay reached on an infield single to third base, off a diving Vázquez, restoring the 10-run Red Sox lead.

Entering the top of the fifth, Zink was three outs from qualifying for the win. But the Rangers got to him for a double, a wild pitch, two singles, and then three consecutive doubles. With the lead down to 12-6, two runners in scoring position, and one out, Francona called on lefty Javier López, who gave up an RBI single and then got a strikeout. Righty David Aardsma relieved López, and was tagged for a three-run homer into the Green Monster seats in left-center by Ian Kinsler.9 The score was 12-10, Red Sox, with eight of the runs charged to Zink.10  

Boston regained some of its lead in the bottom of the inning. Ortiz led off with a ground-rule double, which might have gone for a third home run but was ruled a double because of fan interference. Youkilis followed with a two-run homer into the seats in straightaway center. The Red Sox led 14-10 after five.

In the sixth, however, they relinquished the lead. Aardsma walked Josh Hamilton, then gave up a single to Bradley and an RBI single to Byrd. Manny Delcarmen relieved Aardsma and each of the next three plate appearances resulted in a Rangers run – on a double, a sacrifice fly, and a Youkilis error at first base.11 Vázquez singled and Kinsler hit another sacrifice fly. Texas had scored five runs and taken a 15-14 lead.12

The Rangers added a run to that in the top of the seventh on Hamilton’s leadoff double and then a one-out single by Byrd.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Red Sox got one back. Pedroia singled off reliever Jamey Wright, who then walked Ortiz. Youkilis hit a ball back to Wright, who flipped to Vázquez at third, the ball glancing off Vázquez’s glove as a run scored on the pitcher’s throwing error.

In the top of the eighth, Boston’s Hideki Okajima – in his second inning of relief – retired the Rangers in order. The Red Sox went back in the bottom of the eighth off Frank Francisco. After two fly-ball outs sandwiched around a base on balls, Pedroia doubled – his fifth hit of the game – off the wall in left by the foul line, driving in the tying run. It was 16-16. Ortiz was walked intentionally. Youkilis capped his wild night by hitting a three-run homer off one of the advertising signs over the seats atop the left-field wall – his second home run of the game, for a total of five RBIs – to give the team a 19-16 lead.13

In the top of the ninth, the Rangers showed they hadn’t yet been defeated. But that changed when the familiar song “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” by the Dropkick Murphys began playing and Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon took the mound.14 He struck out Bradley, but then saw Byrd reach on an error at third base. Byrd took second base due to defensive indifference. Pinch-hitter Brandon Boggs doubled to center and drove in Byrd with the 36th run of the game.

Papelbon got outs from the next two Rangers and the game was finally over. The Red Sox had won the slugfest. As of 2025, 36 total runs remained the record for an AL game.

“That was an interesting night,” Francona said afterward. “At some point you’re thinking about going for a field goal.”15

At least one Dallas journalist was not particularly kind, writing, “You know how you know when you really, really suck? When you score two touchdowns and a field goal and still find a way to lose. Oh yeah, and you’re a baseball team!”16

There had been cheers, then boos, then cheers from the crowd. Youkilis was pleased in the end, but said, “I also felt the emotion of the boos today, too. The roller coaster ride in Boston’s always fun. Luckily we got the cheers at the end.”17

Okajima got the win, Papelbon a save. Francisco took the loss. Charlie Zink said of the game afterward, “This will be the best memory of my life.  Hopefully, there’s more to come, but if there’s not, this was still amazing tonight.”18

Unfortunately, it was not to be. Zink was returned to Pawtucket, to make way for another starter (veteran Paul Byrd). He worked for the Pawsox the remainder of the year and all of 2009. During the 2011 season, Zink retired.19

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Harrison Golden and copy-edited by Len Levin. Thanks to Bill Nowlin for his help with this article and to Holly Scheller for her support.

Photo credit: Kevin Youkilis, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and a video of the game on YouTube.com.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS200808120.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2008/B08120BOS2008.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkdFMTi4QBo

Notes

1 “Red Sox and Athletics Set New Records as Boston Triumphs, 22-14,” York (Pennsylvania) Gazette, June 30, 1950. The Boston team, then known as the Boston Americans, was involved in the first 35-run game in AL history, a 23-12 win over the Philadelphia Athletics on May 2, 1901. There were three other 35-run AL games before 1950: Cleveland Indians 21, St. Louis Browns 14, in 1925; Athletics 18, Indians 17, in 1932; and Chicago White Sox 21, Athletics 14, in 1936.

2 The June 29 game followed another onslaught against the Athletics, a 19-0 shutout on April 30. As of 2025, that game stood as a franchise record for most runs scored in a shutout.

3 The Texas Rangers offense was the best in the American League in 2008, scoring 901 runs. Rangers pitching allowed 625 walks, the most in the American League and seventh overall in the major leagues. The Red Sox boasted an offense with the highest batting average (.280) and on-base percentage (.358) in the majors.

4 The first three batters were Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, and Josh Hamilton. All three were All-Stars.

5 Ortiz, who would normally have had more home runs by this point in the season, was hampered by an early season slump followed by a wrist injury that kept him out of action for 45 games.

6 Bay was part of a three-team blockbuster trade just a few days earlier, on July 31, going from the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Red Sox, while Manny Ramírez was traded from the Red Sox to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

7 The Boston Globe reported it as the 30th time in franchise history that the Red Sox had scored 10 or more runs in an inning. Amalie Benjamin, “Sox Pull It Out as Things Run Amok at Fenway,” Boston Globe, August 13, 2008: D1.

8 Bill Nowlin interview with Charlie Zink, September 25, 2024. Also found in Bill Nowlin, “Charlie Zink,” SABR Baseball Biography Project, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/charlie-zink/, accessed September 11, 2025.

9 Kinsler came into the game as the AL hits leader with 157 hits.

10 Jeff Horrigan of the Boston Herald wrote that Zink’s teammates had handed him a gift, but had “accepted the gift … as if it were toxic.” Jeff Horrigan, “Youk Twice as Nice,” Boston Herald, August 13, 2008: 9.

11 It was one of only four errors all year (in 1,014 chances) by Youkilis at first base. He had been errorless in 2007 season, handling 990 chances.

12 The 10-run deficit the Rangers overcame matched the largest one the Red Sox had ever yielded. The Toronto Blue Jays had come back from a 10-0 deficit and ultimately won in 12 innings on June 4, 1989. 

13 Youkilis had set a career high with six RBIs in a game against the Baltimore Orioles exactly one month earlier. This was the only 5-RBI game of his career.

14 “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” by the Dropkick Murphys was Papelbon’s signature entrance song used during his entire tenure with the Red Sox.

15 Joe McDonald, “A Hit Parade,” Providence Journal, August 13, 2008: C1.

16 Richie Whitt, “Red Sox 19, Rangers 17,” DallasObserver.com, August 13, 2008, https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/red-sox-19-rangers-17-7100772/.

17 Benjamin, “Sox Pull It Out as Things Run Amok at Fenway.”

18 Nowlin, “Charlie Zink.”

19 Byrd was acquired by the Red Sox from the Cleveland Indians to fill a pitching need after injuries to Wakefield, Curt Schilling, and Clay Buchholz. The 2008 Red Sox finished second in the AL East with a 95-67 record and reached the postseason as the league’s wild card. They advanced to the AL Championship Series but lost to the Rays in seven games. The Rangers came in at 79-83, second in the AL West.