Jones: Memorable comebacks in baseball history

Days later, we're still trying to wrap our brains around the Tampa Bay Rays' collapse Monday night at Cleveland.
How remarkable: Just 10 days after staging the biggest comeback in team history (winning 8-7 after trailing 7-0) against the Indians, the Rays returned the favor with the largest collapse in team history. They took a 10-0 lead and led 10-4 going into the ninth, but lost 11-10 in Cleveland.
Here are some other memorable collapses in major-league history:

-- The impossible comeback
Monday was not the Indians' first big comeback. The biggest was on Aug. 5, 2001. The Mariners, who won a record 116 games in 2001, took a 12-0 fourth-inning lead and led 14-2 in the seventh when manager Lou Piniella pulled starters Ichiro Suzuki, John Olerud and Edgar Martinez. Even the Tribe seemed to throw in the towel by pulling stars Roberto Alomar, Travis Fryman, Juan Gonzalez and Ellis Burks. But the Indians rallied for three in the seventh, four in the eighth and five with two outs in the ninth to tie. They won 15-14 in 11 innings. "What they did is almost impossible to do," Piniella said after the game.

-- The improbable comeback
The Indians again. Down 8-0 to the Blue Jays on June 4, 1995, the Tribe rallied and eventually won 9-8 on Paul Sorrento's two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth.

-- The most impressive comeback
More Indians magic. You have to go all the way back to May 23, 1901, but it might have been the best comeback ever. The Indians trailed the Senators 13-5 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth before rallying for nine runs and a 14-13 victory.

-- A long walk
On June 8, 1989, the Pirates scored 10 runs in the top of the first inning and Pirates announcer Jim Rooker said, "If we lose this game, I'll walk home.'' The Phillies chipped away and chipped away and actually won rather easily, 15-11. Rooker made good on his promise, walking from Philly to Pittsburgh after the season, raising money for charity along the way.

-- Kruk's comeback
On Aug. 21, 1990, Tommy Lasorda's Dodgers had an 11-1 lead at home in the eighth when the Phillies scored what seemed like two innocent runs . Then the Phillies, sparked by a three-run homer from John Kruk , scored nine in the ninth, held the Dodgers to win 12-11.

-- A baker's dozen
On June 18, 1911, the White Sox had a 13-1 lead against the Tigers in the fifth, but ended up losing 16-15 thanks to four hits and five RBIs from Detroit's Ty Cobb. Also, the (here we go again) Indians had a 14-2 lead against the Philadelphia A's on June 15, 1925, but ended up choking it away in a 17-15 loss.

-- A fall classic collapse
The biggest collapse in postseason history came, coincidently, less than two weeks before the great stock market crash in 1929. The Cubs had an 8-0 lead over the Philadelphia A's going to the bottom of the seventh in Game 4 of the World Series, but the A's scored 10 in the seventh. The A's would win the series in five games.

-- A near-fatal collapse
Just last October, remember Tampa Bay had a 7-0 lead in Game 5 of the ALCS and was seven outs from winning the pennant. The Red Sox scored four in the seventh, three in the eighth to tie, then won it on a J.D. Drew walk-off single in the ninth. The Rays would go on to lose Game 6 before pulling out the series with a 3-1 victory in Game 7.

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service www.scrippsnews.com)
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