The fans in attendance at Petco Park witnessed two games for the price of one. Unfortunately, those who cheered for the home team ended up seeing their team go hitless in the “second” game.
Mark Reynolds provided the only runs of extra innings with a 3-run blast off former Arizona infielder Josh Wilson in the top of the 18th inning. With this win, the Diamondbacks improve their record to 25-32 while the Padres fell to 26-30.
Arizona was actually leading six to nothing heading into the seventh inning stretch. However, a Kevin Kouzmanoff solo shot broke the shutout for Diamondbacks starter Dan Haren, who finished the game allowing 1 ER on 4 hits in 7.0 IP. It wasn’t until the 9th inning when San Diego continued the comeback.
Adrian Gonzalez doubled to lead off the latter half of the 9th inning. Chase Headley then drove in Gonzalez to cut the Arizona lead to four. One Brian Giles walk and a Kouzmanoff fly-out later, Nick Hundley’s infield single drove in Headley and put the Padres to within a field goal of the Diamondbacks.
After Chris Burke reached base on a fielder’s choice, David Eckstein came to the plate to represent the tying run. Eckstein then blasted a first-pitch fastball from Chad Qualls to left field, tying the game at six and sending the game to extra innings.
Nobody scored until the top of the 18th inning when Mark Reynolds’ 14th dinger of the year finally ended what would be the longest game of the MLB season thus far.
