It was on this day in 2014 that
the Toronto Blue Jays played the longest game in franchise history in terms of
time (six hours, 37 minutes) and innings (19—this total has since been tied).
On a sunny, Sunday afternoon at
the Rogers Centre, the Jays hosted the Detroit Tigers. It was the final game of
a three-game series with the Tigers having won the Friday night game by a score
of 5-4 and the Jays winning the Saturday afternoon game in walk-off fashion in
ten innings by a 3-2 score.
Toronto had Mark Buehrle
starting on the hill, while the Tigers countered with David Price, who had been
recently picked up at the trading deadline from the Tampa Bay Rays. Detroit
roughed up Buehrle early and by the time he left the game after 3 1/3 innings,
the Tigers had built a 5-0 lead. Price meanwhile, had been cruising along,
shutting out the Jays’ batters over the first five innings.
But Toronto got on the board in
the bottom of the sixth when catcher Dioner Navarro drilled a two-run home run
off of Price to cut the deficit to three runs, at 5-2. The Jays would then add
another two runs in the bottom of the seventh on RBI singles by shortstop, Jose
Reyes, and left-fielder, Melky Cabrera.
Then, with two out in the bottom
of the ninth, Reyes would tie the game at five on a single to centre that drove
in Anthony Gose and sent the game into extra innings. This is where the fun
started.
With the two teams combining for
ten runs over nine innings, they couldn’t muster anything over the next nine.
Both teams had several chances to take the lead or win the game but were unable
to capitalize. As the game ventured into the six and half hour mark, the Jays
came to bat in the bottom of the 19th inning.
Menenori Kawasaki led off with a
single. Reyes (in his tenth plate appearance of the game) dropped down a bunt,
attempting to sacrifice Kawasaki to second. But Tigers’ pitcher, Rick Porcello,
threw wide to first and everyone was safe, Kawasaki on third with the
game-winning run and nobody out.
Cabrera was walked to load the
bases, and right-fielder Jose Bautista, lined a single to rightfield, scoring
Kawasaki and giving the Jays a 6-5 win in 19 innings, the longest game in team
history.
The record was matched (in terms
of innings) just over a month ago when the Cleveland Indians defeated the Jays
2-1 in 19 innings. That game ended after six hours and 13 minutes.
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