Mets beat Cardinals 2-1 in 20 innings
Flashback from the old blog! Mets and Cardinals historic game.
Jose Reyes hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly to help the New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 in 20 innings on Saturday night, 6 hours and 53 minutes after the first pitch was thrown. The teams used a combined 19 pitchers, including two St. Louis position players: IF Felipe Lopez (IP, 0 R) and OF Joe Mather (L, 2 IP, 2 R).
There have now been a total of 42 games of 20 innings or more in MLB history with 5 of them ending in ties. The longest being the legendary 26-inning 1-1 deadlock between the Boston Braves and the Brooklyn Robins (soon to be Dodgers) on May 1, 1920. The Mets and Cardinals were also up against each in other in 1974, when they played for 25 innings, a 4-3 Cardinal win, the longest game not to end in a tie.
The longest professional baseball game is listed as a 33-inning minor league marathon between AAA International teams The Pawtucket Red Sox and Rochester Red Wings in 1981. At 4:07 AM, at the end of the 32nd inning, the game was stopped. At this point, there were 19 fans left in the seats, all of whom were given season passes to McCoy Stadium. The game was completed on June 23rd, the next time the Red Wings were in town.
