Fans at two games get double dosage

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http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/games/2006-08-16-18-inning-NL-games_x.htm

Fans at two games get double dosage


Fans in two cities saw the equivalent of two games on a record-setting Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. Unfortunately for the hometown rooters, their teams dropped 18-inning marathons.

BOX SCORES: Cubs 8, Astros 6 | D'backs 2, Rockies 1
In Houston, Matt Murton's ninth-inning homer off Brad Lidge tied the game before his two-run single in the 18th gave the Chicago Cubs an 8-6 victory over the Astros in the longest regular-season game in Minute Maid Park history.

Forty-five minutes after Chicago won, the Arizona Diamondbacks completed a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field, making it the first time in major league history two games on the same day lasted as long as 18 innings, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
The Murton homer cost Roger Clemens a victory, even though the righthander had allowed five runs on seven hits — two of them homers — in six innings.

The Cubs used 10 pitchers on the mound and another, Carlos Zambrano, as a pinch-hitter during the five-hour and 36-minute contest. The Astros failed to score in the final 12 innings against seven pitchers.

The 18 hurlers tied a National League record, and they threw 542 pitches.
Chicago manager Dusty Baker needed all 25 players, including Wednesday's scheduled starter Rich Hill. Not in 20 years had the Cubs played their entire active roster.

And, there's no rest for the weary in Houston, as the teams return to Minute Maid for an early-afternoon game on Wednesday.

At Coors Field in Denver, Luis Gonzalez singled home Eric Byrnes with one out in the 18th for the deciding run.

Arizona, which climbed one game behind Cincinnati atop the NL wild-card standings, got 12 scoreless innings from seven relievers, including winning pitcher Brandon Medders, who worked three hitless frames. The D'backs bullpen allowed only six hits and struck out 13.
Relievers on both sides totaled 22 one-run innings, with only the lone run coming off Ramon Ramirez, who pitched the final four innings for Colorado.

A total of 15 pitchers threw 514 times in, predictably, the longest game in Rockies history in time on the clock (5:21) and in innings. It might have been the longest night for Colorado infielder Jamey Carroll, who went 0-for-8.

Unlike their tired colleagues in Houston, the D'backs and Rockies can sleep the day away before their night game on Wednesday.
 
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