by Rowan Kavner
Hours after Kenley Jansen recorded his 1,000th career strikeout to send Wednesday’s game to extras, AJ Pollock put his hands on his head in left field like he just finished a marathon. In some ways, he did.
The runner on second rule created to speed up extra-inning games offered no relief in a 16-inning slog that ended a tick before 1 a.m. Thursday morning, not long after Pollock delivered the final blow with a two-run home run to outlast the Padres in a 5–3 win.
“I just wanted to do something for the team,” said Pollock, who was showered with the contents of a Gatorade cooler for his efforts ending the five-hour, 49-minute trudge. “It was a big win. We’ll take it.”
What began as a pitching duel between Walker Buehler and Blake Snell became a battle of the benches. It was the longest game since the “runner on second” rule was implemented.
Buehler allowed just one unearned run in 6 2/3 innings when he departed with a Major League best 2.02 ERA. It was his 25th start going at least six innings in 26 outings this year. But he left trailing 1–0. The Dodgers didn’t get their first baserunner off Snell until a Justin Turner single with two outs in the fourth inning.
Snell, who was infamously removed after 73 pitches in the sixth inning of the Dodgers’ World Series Game 6 win, would get a much longer leash at Petco Park after tossing seven scoreless innings. He trotted back out for the eighth at 106 pitches.
On Snell’s 116th pitch of the night, Will Smith tied the game with his sixth home run of the month and his fifth in his last 10 games. Nine of the clutch catcher’s last 10 home runs have tied the game or given the Dodgers the lead, with six of those occurring in the seventh inning or later.
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The game would remain glued at 1–1 for hours, thanks in part to a Dodger pitching staff that held the Padres hitless for nine innings. After an Adam Frazier single off Buehler in the fifth inning, the Padres wouldn’t record another hit until Fernando Tatis Jr. delivered a stunning, game-tying two-run home run off Corey Knebel in the 15th inning.
“I’m pretty beat,” said manager Dave Roberts. “But you feel a lot better after a win.”
Dodger relievers Joe Kelly, Blake Treinen, Jansen, Alex Vesia, Phil Bickford, Justin Bruihl and Brusdar Graterol combined to hold the Padres hitless for 7 1/3 innings, the majority of which came with a runner on second base. The Dodgers became the seventh team in MLB history to allow four hits or fewer in a game of at least 16 innings.
By night’s end, the Dodgers had intentionally walked a Major League record eight batters, often loading the bases to get to the pitcher’s spot in the lineup after San Diego burned all its position players early.
“It’s just more of trying to figure out the best way to extend the game,” Roberts said. “It was more of educated decision-making.”
Neither team recorded a run in extra innings until they both struck in the 15th.
The clubs combined to go 7-for- 51 with runners in scoring position. Three of those hits came in the top of the 15th for the Dodgers, including an RBI pinch-hit single from Billy McKinney that put the Dodgers ahead. Trea Turner followed with another RBI single. Tatis would erase the lead, but Pollock responded in the 16th.
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The Dodgers used their closer in the ninth inning, when Jansen joined Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman as the only relievers to record at least 1,000 strikeouts with one team. The marathon ended with Shane Greene’s first save since his All-Star 2019 season, helping the Dodgers outlast the Padres to pick up their 11th win in their last 12 games.
“You can listen to the excitement, elation after the game,” Roberts said. “A lot of high fives. Maybe a couple beer showers, and guys really just on adrenaline, finding a way to win a ballgame. It should count as two.”
Pollock’s late blast lifts Dodgers in 16-inning marathon was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
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