Colorado Rockies Win Marathon 16-Inning Game In Los Angeles, 5-4

By Bobby DeMuro | Sep 15, 2015

Sep 15, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Gonzalez Germen (62) is met by catcher Tom Murphy (30) after he earned a save in the sixteenth inning of the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Rockies won 5-4. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

The Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Dodgers met Tuesday night for the second game of their three-game series at historic Dodger Stadium.

Final. 4. 71. 5. 108

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After five hours and 23 minutes of play spanning 16 innings — many of which were played in an uncharacteristic rain storm — the Colorado Rockies took a lead on Nolan Arenado‘s solo home run and hung on for dear life to win a marathon baseball game over the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-4, on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.

Both clubs went into the tenth inning tied 3-3, after solid starts from Chris Rusin for the Rockies, and Brett Anderson for the Dodgers. Neither offense did a significant amount of damage to the opposing starters, while the Rockies were gifted with an unearned run thanks to the Dodgers’ questionable defense behind Anderson.

But in extra innings is when things started getting interesting; the Rockies scored in the top of the 11th after Justin Morneau led off the inning with a triple, but the Dodgers would answer back with one of their own in the bottom of the 11th after John Axford blew a save opportunity.

Both teams would cycle through pitchers throughout the extra innings; the Rockies ended up using 30 total players and 13 pitches in the game, both of which are Major League records, and both teams combined on 54 total players — another big league record. Thanks, roster expansion!

The game looked as though it’d be interminable into the top of the 16th inning — one fan at the game even commented to his buddy that “the way the weather is, at this time of night, in this pitcher’s park, nobody is going to be scoring a run on a homer, so it’s going to take a defensive mistake or two for a run to score.”

Three pitches later, Nolan Arenado blasted a solo home run off Mat Latos to give the Rockies a 5-4 lead.

Gonzalez Germen came on in the bottom of the 16th inning — with Jason Gurka playing right field (!) — and despite a hit and a walk earned the save in the marathon affair. David Hale picked up the win.

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