Diamondbacks Set Franchise Records in Third Inning

The D-backs brought home 14 runs in the bottom of the third inning.

Arizona Diamondbacks Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (12) flips his bat after hitting a 2-run home run against / Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY

The Diamondbacks completed a record-breaking inning against the Colorado Rockies tonight. The D-backs' Opening Day lineup had held a 2-1 lead off the bat of a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. 2-run blast coming into the third inning, but the bats came to life in historic fashion.

The Rockies came off a troubling 103-loss season, a franchise high. Colorado is looking to turn around from a rough year with a healthier squad, but the D-backs came into tonight's matchup with other ideas.

Shortstop Geraldo Perdomo got the inning started with a leadoff single, and the rest of the team kept the line running for an astounding 44 minutes. The D-backs went on to score 14 runs on 13 hits--both franchise records for most in an inning. Colorado pulled left-handed starter Kyle Freeland after six runs came across, but the D-backs went on to collect an astounding eight more runs off right-hander Anthony Molina, making his MLB debut. They saw a total of 59 pitches from Colorado, the third-most in franchise history.

The 14 runs are an Opening Day record as well, and the D-backs sent 18 batters to the plate, being only the 10th time any team has done so since 1974. Since that time, they are just the second team to have 16 or more hits and 16 or more runs through three innings. The last time this happened, the Red Sox defeated the Marlins, 25-8, back in 2003.

Five different Diamondbacks hitters had multiple hits in the inning. Star outfielder and reigning NLROY Corbin Carroll was the only batter without a hit in said stretch, but the 23-year-old walked twice. Second baseman Ketel Marte went 2-for-2 in the inning, as did third baseman Eugenio Suárez. Arizona's 3-6 hitters accounted for 11 of the record-breaking 14 runs.

Notably, young shortstop Blaze Alexander--hitting in the DH slot--collected his first major league hit, a bloop RBI single that broke the record and capped off the historic inning. Arizona came out of the inning up 16-1.