Pirates win 18-inning marathon backed by best little fan ever
It was day, and later it was night. It was bright, and then the sun was setting. The Earth moved, seasons changed, and oceans dried up. Most of those things happened during Sunday’s 18-inning game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Washington Nationals, which the Pirates finally, finally, finally won 2-1.
And a young, neon-clad Pirates fan was there for the whole thing. He was emotionally invested in every single pitch thrown in the game. All 540 of them.
He experienced every single emotion over those 18 innings, and the game did its part to inspire him.
The Pirates were actually just one strike away from winning 1-0 in regulation when Daniel Murphy, who was pinch hitting for Ben Revere, hit a homer in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game. After that run, no one scored again for the length of another entire baseball game. A whole nine innings.
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When the game entered the 18th, it officially became the longest game in Nationals history, innings-wise. (The longest game in franchise history, which includes the Montreal Expos, was a 22-inning matchup against the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1989.) It seems that the Nationals weren’t expecting such a lengthy contest.
They've run out of paper towels in the men's room. We're two innings away from a Lord of the Flies situation here.
— Mark Zuckerman (@MarkZuckerman) July 17, 2016
Thankfully, it didn’t get to that point. With two outs in the top of the 18th inning, Pirates left fielder Starling Marte belted a home run to the left field bleachers, finally breaking the tie. Nationals beat writer Mark Zuckerman wondered how Marte even got a chance to hit against Oliver Perez, considering that he didn’t really have to.
As several have pointed out, Jon Niese was in on-deck circle when Starling Marte homered with 2 outs. Could've intentionally walked him.
— Mark Zuckerman (@MarkZuckerman) July 17, 2016
Incidentally, Jon Niese turned in three strong, scoreless innings for the Pirates, which was instrumental in them winning the game.
But the true star of the game was that young Pirates fan. Over 18 innings, he yelled, shook his fist, clapped, jumped, yawned, napped, then finally cheered when Marte hit his game-winning home run. He cheered so hard, and was so happy to have made it through the whole game to see the Pirates win, that he cried. But my favorite moment was his response to Daniel Murphy’s ninth inning homer.
We’ve all been there, young Pirates fan. We’ve all been there.
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Liz Roscher is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on twitter! Follow @lizroscher
