On April 17, 2010, a 2-1, 20 inning loss to the Mets left Tony La Russa out of options on several occasions. Here is our original coverage.
Jaime Garcia and Johan Santana began Saturday afternoon as headliners on a national stage. They ended up as opening acts for 6 hours, 53 minutes of vaudeville offense, unheard-of match-ups and ultimately an almost unprecedented 2-1, 20-inning Cardinals loss to the New York Mets at Busch Stadium.
A game that tested baseball's timeless appeal piled novelty atop absurdity until it found Felipe Lopez pitching the 18th inning, Joe Mather the final two and starting pitcher Kyle Lohse manning left field for the Cardinals.
The end came in the 20th when the Mets reached Mather for a run on two singles and a sacrifice fly.
After playing 18 scoreless innings, the teams exchanged volleys in the 19th on a Mets sacrifice fly to Lohse in left field and catcher Yadier Molina's two-out RBI single against Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez.
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The Mets finally won when Mike Pelfrey, part of their starting rotation, closed out the 20th two days after using 106 pitches against the Colorado Rockies.
Garcia, in his third major-league start, opened the game by giving the Cardinals five hitless innings within seven innings of one-hit ball. Santana matched Garcia's seven shutout innings. Every reliever and every position player on both rosters would get involved over the subsequent 12 frames.
The night's zaniness featured:
- Mets reliever Raul Valdes reached on an infield single against Lopez and kept going when Brendan Ryan's throw sailed past first base. However, Valdes was out when first baseman Albert Pujols retrieved the ball and threw to makeshift third baseman Mather covering at second base, as Valdes failed to slide.
- Lopez escaped the 18th inning unscored upon, bringing Mather on to pitch the 19th entirely from the stretch.
- Manager Tony La Russa twice allowed relievers a shot at winning the game with bases-loaded at-bats in extra innings. Down to their last position player, they unsuccessfully tried to score from second base on a 16th-inning ground ball.
- La Russa pulled cleanup hitter and left fielder Matt Holliday from the 11th inning as part of a double switch that left the pitcher batting fourth.
Naturally, Holliday's former spot resurfaced with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the frame, forcing La Russa to choose between giving the at-bat to reliever Jason Motte, a starting pitcher such as Adam Wainwright or the last available position player, catcher Bryan Anderson.
La Russa stayed with Motte, a former catcher, who struck out on four pitches.
Hoping to avoid using closer Ryan Franklin, the Cardinals tried scoring Ryan Ludwick from second base on pinch hitter Anderson's ground ball. He became caught in a rundown 40 feet shy of the plate.
Ludwick was again thrown out on a foiled hit-and-run attempt for the first out of the 19th inning with Pujols batting. Pujols followed with a double off the wall in left-center field. Lohse immediately became the third pitcher to take an at-bat with the winning or tying run in scoring position.
The game left a position player as the Cardinals' pitcher of record for the first time since current third-base coach Jose Oquendo worked four innings in a 19-inning loss to the Atlanta Braves on May 14, 1988.
The Cardinals stranded 22 runners. Only four starting pitchers among both rosters failed to appear.
The game produced one baserunner at third base through 11 innings. The Mets remained stuck on one hit through 11. The Cardinals have scored an earned run in three of the last 44 innings in which they've batted.
A nationally telecast game that began under a clear mid-afternoon sky ended under the lights as an infomercial for struggling offense, masterful starting pitching and improvisational relief.
The Mets spent their last position player in the 13th inning. La Russa hoped to avoid using Blake Hawksworth and Franklin, who closed Friday's 4-3 win. Hawksworth and Franklin both eventually appeared on back-to-back days for the first time this year, including spring training.
The situation again found Holliday's spot in the 14th inning when Mather's leadoff double and Brendan Ryan's fumbled bunt led to runners at second and third with none out. The threat ended when Skip Schumaker and Ludwick struck out, inviting the Mets' fourth walk of Pujols. Hawksworth's first major-league at-bat ended predictably on four pitches, and the game played on.
Santana entered with a career 123-60 record and two Cy Young Awards. Garcia made his third major-league start and his first at Busch as anything more than a stopgap.
Seven days after besting Milwaukee Brewers ace Yovani Gallardo, Garcia outpitched the game's winningest pitcher for the last seven seasons. This time the duel ended in a technical draw as Mets manager Jerry Manuel removed Santana after the lefthander threw 118 pitches in seven innings. Garcia lasted just as long but needed only 97 pitches to get there. The Cardinals pushed two runners to second base against Santana; the Mets managed one runner in scoring position against Garcia. Neither team reached third base through nine innings.
The Cardinals finally got there in the 10th inning when relievers Pedro Feliciano and Fernando Nieve loaded the bases with a pair of two-out walks sandwiched around Ludwick's single. Nieve entered with runners at first and second and all but intentionally walked Pujols. Holliday extended a forgettable day by losing his at-bat on a foul pop that replacement first baseman Alex Cora caught diving into the stands.
With one out in the 12th, La Russa pulled Holliday from the field as part of a double-switch involving Motte. Stunned, Holliday pointed to himself while standing beside fellow outfielders Colby Rasmus and Ludwick.
How did the game get there?
The route may have been simpler for Lewis and Clark to find the Northwest Passage.
Garcia struck out five and got 12 ground-ball outs. The Mets briefly challenged in the first inning following a two-out walk of third baseman David Wright and a stolen base.
Lopez, who saved Friday's game with a seventh-inning grand slam, and third baseman David Freese contributed several strong plays to stop rallies before they started.
Garcia had retired 13 consecutive hitters when Mets center fielder Angel Pagan spoiled his hitless run by dropping a single in front of Rasmus to lead off the sixth inning.
An afternoon crowd of 43,709 recognized the moment with lengthy applause. Only a fraction remained when it all ended.
With no margin for error, Garcia shut down the inning after Santana's bunt moved Pagan into scoring position. A fly ball, a two-out walk of second baseman Luis Castillo and a strikeout of Wright extinguished the threat.
Garcia retired the side in order before La Russa summoned Kyle McClellan to begin the eighth inning. Garcia's mature performance left the rotation with two earned runs allowed in 36 innings (0.50 ERA) on the five-game-old home stand.
The Cardinals, meanwhile, remain hobbled with runners in scoring position. They did nothing with Schumaker's fifth career extra-base hit against lefthanded pitching a double to open the first inning. Consecutive one-out singles by Freese and Lopez led to nothing in the second. The Cardinals' final threat against Santana wilted following Molina's single to lead off the seventh inning. Freese's bunt moved him to second base before Santana struck out Lopez and Rasmus.
McClellan, Mitch Boggs, Trever Miller, Motte, Dennys Reyes and Hawksworth worked seven shutout innings behind Garcia.