Imagine starting your first game in the majors and being staked to an eleven-run lead before ever throwing a pitch. Now, imagine not getting the win.

I'm sure that Tim Stauffer never imagined that he would be in that position, and yet today he was.

The Padres staked Stauffer, who was called up yesterday, to an 11-0 lead in the first inning in Houston aided by two-run homers by Mike Cameron and Adrian Gonzalez. Stauffer even got his first major-league hit, a two-single that made the score 5-0, before he faced his first batter. The eleven runs tied for second all-time for runs in the first inning by a visiting team.

And yet, the road to Stauffer's historic first win in the majors was blocked by seven-run Astro fourth inning, and the win ended up going to forty-year-old reliever Doug Brocail.

The biggest first inning for a visiting team was on August 29, 1937 when the Philly A's went into Comiskey and scored 12 in the first inning of the first game of a double header. Bob Johnson drives in six on a two-run double and a grand slam in the first and goes 5-for-6 on the day. The A's prevail 16-0.

The record for first-inning runs is a bit higher, however. On May 21, 2952, 19 straight Dodgers reach base, a major-league record—that's batting around twice plus one for good measure without an out—with one out in the first against Ewell Blackwell and the Reds and scored 15 runs en route to a 19-1 route. Pee Wee Reese reaches safely three times in the streak. The last two outs come on a caught stealing at third (Andy Pafko) and a Duke Snider strikeout. Brooklyn pitcher Chris Van Cuyk leads all batters with four hits. And Snider makes up for the first-inning K with a two-run homer while Bobby Morgan has two.

Seven home-teams have exceeded the visitors first-inning record: