The Diamondbacks and Phillies went 18 innings Saturday afternoon ... and evening ... and night ... to the tune of 7 hours and 6 minutes. It was the longest game in the majors this season, the longest in baseball since 1989 and the longest in the history of either franchise. The final out was recorded at 2:12 a.m. Philadelphia time.
It's hard to really put into perspective how ridiculously long this game went on (and on and on), but here are a few stats that are telling.
-- The Phillies had two position players pitch. Outfielder Casper Wells started the 12th inning and recorded two outs, and infielder John McDonald got the final out of the inning on a strikeout. McDonald had never before pitched in a major league game; Wells faced four batters in a game earlier this year while with the White Sox for his only other appearance on the mound.
-- Diamondbacks shortstop Didi Gregorius entered the game as a defensive replacement in the bottom of the seventh and went on to make six plate appearances. Catcher Tuffy Gosewisch, who replaced starter Wil Nieves after the 11th inning, got four at-bats.
-- Two Diamondbacks — leadoff man Tony Campana and No. 8 hitter Cliff Pennington — finished with five walks, one short of the single-game major league record of six. Paul Goldschmidt walked four times.
-- The Phillies had nine other pitchers record at least as many outs as starter Ethan Martin, who was pulled after 2/3 of an inning and three runs allowed.
-- Diamondbacks left fielder Adam Eaton, third baseman Martin Prado and right fielder Gerardo Parra had a combined 28 at-bats and 30 plate appearances. Eaton was 4 for 10, while Prado went 3 for 9 and Parra was 5 for 9.
-- The Phillies' Darin Ruff started at first base and then played left field, right field and left field again while getting nine at-bats. Wells also played the same position twice, returning to right field after his stint on the mound because the Phillies were out of position players.
-- D-backs starter Randall Delgado earned a quality start by going six innings and allowing three earned runs ... and the Diamondbacks still needed eight relievers, including Trevor Cahill, who's normally a starter but went four innings in relief and got the win (and had two at-bats).
-- The two teams combined to throw 709 pitches. Yes, 709 pitches. Delgado and the Phillies' Tyler Cloyd led their respective teams with 91 apiece even though Cloyd — who had been slated to start Sunday — didn't enter until the 11th inning.
-- There were a combined 137 at-bats and 168 plate appearances. Every spot in the Diamondbacks' batting order came up 10 times.
-- With Sunday's first pitch scheduled for 1:35 p.m. local time, the teams were scheduled to have 11 hours and 24 minutes between games.
3:00 = what time the bus is leaving the stadium this morning... RT @ToddWalsh That's AM #dbacks pic.twitter.com/0cmBfNdlGS
— FOX Sports Arizona (@FOXSPORTSAZ) August 25, 2013
