Marlins Win In 20 Innings

    The Miami Marlins tied a franchise record as they played 20 innings to defeat the New York Mets 2-1 on Saturday at Citi Field. The Marlins lost a 20-inning home game against the St. Louis Cardinals 7-6 on April 27, 2003. It was the longest game played at Citi Field which opened in 2009.
    New York(23-34) scored their only run of the game against Jose Fernandez during the second inning as they took the early lead. Ike Davis led off with a walk and John Buck followed with a line out to short. Juan Lagares drove Davis in with a double into the left-center field gap.
    In the fourth inning, Miami(17-44) was able to tie it up against Matt Harvey. Derek Dietrich singled to right field with one out and advanced to third on a base hit by Marcell Ozuna into center. Chris Coghlan then hit a sacrifice fly to right field for Dietrich to score.
    Fernandez pitched six innings for the Fish, allowed one run on three hits and struck out seven. Harvey gave up one run on six hits and struck out six in seven innings. Both players started in a 15-inning game back on April 29 in Miami where the Marlins won 4-3. It was the first time since 1884 where the same two starting pitchers began two games that went at least 15 innings in one season.
    The game remained tied as the game went into extra innings. The Mets almost won it in the 12th inning. They had two men on base with one out when Marlon Byrd hit a line drive down the right-field line which was caught by Ozuna. Daniel Murphy tagged up from third and was thrown out at the plate as Ozuna fired it in on one bounce.
    The Fish scored the go-ahead run off Shaun Marcum in the 20th inning to win the game. Placido Polanco singled to right and went to third on a base hit by Rob Brantly to left-center field. Adeiny Hechavarria knocked in Polanco on a single to center field.
    Kevin Slowey took the win and improved to 2-5. He went seven innings in relief, gave up no runs on eight hits and struck out eight. Marcum dropped to 0-7 as he surrendered one run on five hits and struck out seven in eight innings of relief.