The San Francisco Giants beat the Washington Nationals 2-1 in 18 innings on Saturday night in what turned out to be the longest postseason game in MLB history.
The Nats held a 1-0 lead going into the 9th inning and starter Jordan Zimmerman, making his first start since his no-hitter on Sept. 28, pitched brilliantly. Zimmerman allowed just three hits over 8.2 innings and was cruising until walking Joe Panik with two outs in the 9th. Manager Matt Williams pulled him even though that was the first baserunner he allowed since the third inning, and reliever Drew Storen allowed consecutive hits to tie the game.
It wasn’t until nine innings later that another run was scored.
Brandon Belt blasted a solo home run off Tanner Roark to seal the game and Hunter Strickland shut it down to put the Giants up 2-0 in the NLDS.
Here are some of the wild stats from the marathon game:
– Total players used: 40
– Pitchers: 17
– Pitches: 485
– Hits 17
– Game time 6:23
– Temp drop 9 degrees
This also was the Giants’ 6th consecutive postseason road win and 10th consecutive win overall.
