Today In Brewer History: 13 and a win

The Milwaukee Brewers have been around for more than four decades, but it's entirely possible the wildest game in franchise history was played in their single season in Seattle.

On this day in 1969 the Pilots faced the Washington Senators and through five innings they didn't show much, falling behind 11-3. That all changed in the sixth, though, when they scored eight runs to tie the game at 11. Don Mincher actually had two RBI hits in the inning, and outfielder Rich Rollins hit the first grand slam in franchise history (we covered that event in this space last year).

The excitement wasn't over yet, though: The Pilots scored another run in the seventh to take a 12-11 lead, blew that lead in the eighth and plated four more runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 16-13 lead and the eventual victory.

To date, this is still the only time in franchise history where a Brewer team has allowed 13 runs and won.

With help from the B-Ref Play Index, happy birthday today to:

• 1988-89 Brewer Joey Meyer, who turns 51.
• Seattle Pilot Miguel Fuentes, who would have turned 67.
• 1974 Brewer Ken Berry, who turns 72.
• 1964 Milwaukee Brave and Seattle Pilot Merritt Ranew, who would have turned 75.
• Townsend, Wisconsin native Russ Bauers, who would have turned 99. He played eight major league seasons between 1936-50 as a member of the Pirates and two other teams.

Today is also the fifth anniversary of Ben Sheets' 1084th strikeout, moving him past Teddy Higuera and into first place on the Brewer all-time list. We covered that event in this space two years ago.