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Running wild: Indians, Rockies score 19 runs each on odd night of baseball

Justin Edmonds / Getty Images Sport / Getty

The Cleveland Indians and Colorado Rockies are hogging all of the runs.

Cleveland and Colorado put on offensive clinics Wednesday night, scoring 19 runs each in blowout victories that together proved to be historic during a wild night of baseball.

The Indians got things going early at Progressive Field against their state rivals from Cincinnati, putting up a 17-spot before their opponents even scored a run. Jose Ramirez homered twice and the Indians pounded out 19 hits during their 19-4 thrashing of the Reds.

Cincinnati's pitching was punished to the point that only one of its hurlers - third baseman Alex Blandino - managed to toss a scoreless inning. Blandino struck out a pair during his one shutout frame, and even displayed a dazzling knuckleball that somehow kept the Indians off balance.

In the thin air of Denver, the Rockies matched Cleveland's output with 19 of their own against the NL West-leading Arizona Diamondbacks during a 19-2 victory. This game got so far out of hand that D-Backs manager Torey Lovullo was forced to call on infielder Daniel Descalso to pitch ... in the fourth inning. It marked the earliest a position player appeared on the mound since 1979, when Milwaukee Brewers third baseman Sal Bando took the mound in the fourth inning of a blowout, according to Stats.com.

Descalso tossed 2 2/3 innings for Arizona, making even more weird history by allowing a home run to Rockies starting pitcher German Marquez.

Diamondbacks catcher Alex Avila fared better in his turn on the mound, tossing a pair of scoreless frames after relieving Descalso.

All told, the Indians and Rockies combined to plate 38 runs on 38 hits, while allowing only six combined runs.

Wednesday marked the fourth time since the American League's founding in 1901 that an AL and NL team each managed to plate 19 or more runs on the same day. It last happened in 2000.

The two teams also become the first in history to hold 17-run leads after four innings of play on the same day, according to ESPN Stats & Info.

Unfortunately for fans of strange records and blowouts, neither Cleveland or Colorado managed to score in the later innings of their wins, meaning the modern-day record of 30 runs - set by the 2007 Texas Rangers in a 30-3 drubbing of Baltimore - is safe for at least one more day.

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