26 Innings!!

Earlier today at KeySpan Park in Coney Island, the Brooklyn Cyclones and the Oneonta Tigers played the longest game in the history of the New York-Penn League, 26 innings, and Oneonta broke a 1-1 tie, scoring five runs and winning it, 6-1. The Cyclones actually ran out of viable pitchers and had to put an outfielder to pitch the final two innings.

I was at KeySpan on Wednesday night, and saw the Cyclones lose to the Tigers, 6-0. It would have been something if I had been at this one. I've been to a few extra-inning games there, the longest being 15 innings last season (and the Cyclones won that one).

Here's the rest of the game summary, courtesy of the Cyclones web site:

Oneonta Tigers........ 000 100 000 000 000 000 000 000 05 - 6 20 2
Brooklyn Cyclones... 100 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 00 - 1 14 5

Time of Game: 6:40
Attendance: 9,004

Brooklyn, NY-
Brooklyn and Oneonta played the longest game in league history – 26 innings – on Thursday, with the Cyclones eventually losing 6-1 in six hours and 40 minutes.

The Tigers finally plated runs in the top of the 26th, when, after the Brooklyn pitching staff had been depleted, outfielder Mark Wright was called into duty on the mound. The outfielder tossed a scoreless 25th inning, before finally allowing five runs (three earned) in the final 26th frame.

9,004 fans attended the game, which was a “Kids Camp Day” that started at noon. Nearly seven hours later, almost 200 fans stayed till the very end. Cyclones manager George Greer was forced to watch almost the entire game from the clubhouse, as he was ejected in the bottom of the first inning, after arguing a force play at second base.

Brooklyn starter Eric Brown made his second start of the season for the Cyclones and tossed seven strong innings while allowing only five hits and a run. Earlier this season, Brown started a game for Hagerstown (A) of the South Atlantic League that went 22 innings.

Both bullpens matched the intensity of the starters. After Brown, Joe Smith (2 innings), Jeremy Mizell (2), Jonathan Castillo (5), Rip Warren (4) and Grady Hinchman (2) threw scoreless innings.

Oneonta’s bullpen gave Brooklyn multiple base runners and opportunities, but their eight pitchers all tossed scoreless innings as Randon Bierd (1-0) got the win after throwing the last two innings.