It took six hours, 11 minutes, and 19 innings for the Philadelphia Phillies to knock off the Cincinnati Reds 5-4 on Wednesday night (Thursday morning?) in a game that ended at 1:19am.
The win went to Wilson Valdez, heroically moving from second base to the mound for his first major league pitching appearance. Valdez pitched one inning, surrendering no runs on zero hits through 10 pitches. Valdez became the first position player to get a win since August 22, 2000 when Rockies catcher Brent Mayne hurled his way to victory from an unfamiliar mound.
The game was the longest of this MLB season. The Reds used seven pitchers, and the Philles used nine in the victory. The box score looks much more like a roster list than your average recording of game statistics.
The winning run came in the bottom of the ninth inning, when Raul Ibanez hit a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Jimmy Rollins and mercifully ending this marathon matchup.
And Wilson Valdez can go back to the comfortable confines of the infield knowing that, as a Major League pitcher, he is undefeated.
Leave a Reply