Sean David Runyan (born June 21, 1974) is a former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

player. After attending Urbandale High School in

Urbandale, Iowa Urbandale is a city in Polk and Dallas counties, Iowa, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city population was 45,580. It is part of the Des Moines–West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Urbandale was incorporated as ...

, Runyan was drafted by the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

in the 5th round of the

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

amateur draft. After several seasons in the minors with the

Quad City River Bandits Quad as a word or prefix usually means 'four'. It may refer to: Government * Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a strategic security dialogue between Australia, India, Japan, and the United States * Quadrilateral group, an informal group which inc ...

, the Astros traded him to the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

for Luis Lopez, but was drafted by the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

in the Rule 5 draft that same year. Runyan's major league debut came on March 31, 1998. He would be used as a

left-handed specialist In baseball, a left-handed specialist (also known as lefty specialist) is a relief pitcher who throws left-handed and specializes in pitching to left-handed batters, weak right-handed batters, and switch-hitters who bat poorly right-handed. Bec ...

out of the Tigers bullpen, and would go on to lead the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

in appearances with 88. The 88 appearances were 2 short of the American League record, but were enough to set the record for rookies. Runyan was mostly a specialist but did pick up one career save. On July 11, 1998, Runyan pitched 1 1/3 innings to close out a 5-2 Tigers victory over the Blue Jays. He saved the game for starting pitcher

Brian Moehler Brian Merritt Moehler (born December 31, 1971) is a former starting pitcher. Moehler pitched for the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He was selected by the Detroit Tigers in the sixth round of the 1993 draft, and assigned to the Niaga ...

. After dealing with arm troubles, Runyan pitched his final game on September 9, 2000. For his career, he pitched parts of 3 seasons, all in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

, and was out of

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

by 2003.

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Detroit Tigers players Major League Baseball pitchers Living people 1974 births Sportspeople from Fort Smith, Arkansas People from Urbandale, Iowa Baseball players from Arkansas Auburn Astros players Gulf Coast Astros players Jacksonville Suns players Mobile BayBears players Quad Cities River Bandits players Rochester Red Wings players Toledo Mud Hens players {{US-baseball-pitcher-1970s-stub