Maybe you turned the game off in the top of the 6th inning when the Dodgers went up 4-1.
Maybe you gave up after the Phillies failed to bring home Carlos Santana after his lead-off double in the 9th.
Maybe you just fell asleep.
No matter the reason, nobody blames you for turning off a game that ended up going 16 innings.
Baseball got weird last night folks. Two first place teams went at it in the longest meeting between the teams in 25 years, when the Phillies and Dodgers went 20 innings with Lenny Dykstra walking it off on a double. Without further adieu, let’s delve headfirst into some kooky parts of this 16-inning marathon.
Austin Davis
While this isn’t chronological, due must be given to the young rookie left hander. At the beginning of the night, it seemed as though Davis wouldn’t be available out of the pen after throwing 32 pitcher over the last 2 days. He more than matched that with 35 pitches over 2 innings of work, giving up only a hit and an intentional walk to a dangerous Dodger lineup. With 3 strike out to boot, Davis lowered his ERA to 2.60 on the season.
For his efforts, he was allowed to bat with the potential winning run on 3rd with 2 outs in the bottom of the 15th. In reality, it was probably because there was no one else left.
Jorge Alfaro
The swing that swung the game to the Phillies favor, came off of this catcher’s bat. With 2 out and a man on, Alfaro launched a bomb to tie the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the 7th. The home run was the 7th of the year for Alfaro. It took a full games worth to shift that score further.
Trevor Plouffe
The man who ended it all. Plouffe took a high pitch deep to right center field to win the game 7-4 for the Phillies. According to Gabe Kapler, Plouffe also offered to pitch in the game. The homer was his first in the majors since September 27th of last season. The blast was also the 105th home run of his career. The man who he hit it off of is our next subject matter…
Kiki Hernandez
Chase Utley’s adopted son had a rough night. He went 0-7 at the plate and was called to pitch in the 16th inning. He struggled to find the strikezone and ultimately took the L.
Weird and Wonderful Stats
According to Corey Seidman, the Phillies and Dodgers combined for 14 more plate appearances than J.P. Crawford has had all season in this single game.
Meghan Montemurro tweeted that tonight was the first time that the bullpen pitched 11 innings with one run or fewer since 2011 when Wilson Valdez pitched a scoreless inning to get the win after 19 innings against the Reds.
The game took 5:55, over an hour less than the longest game in Phillies history. That goes to an 18-inning affair against the Diamondbacks in 2013 which took 7:06.
Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
