At 10:48 p.m. Tuesday, a message on the JumboTron alerted fans that the on-ramp to 20th Street was closed. They were advised to take an alternate route. Unfortunately, there were no suggestions for how the competing teams could reach home.
After 15 pitchers and 507 pitches, the Diamondbacks staggered past Colorado for a 2-1 victory in 18 innings and 5 hours, 21 minutes, the longest game in Rockies history.
“It was a war of attrition and somebody had to win,” said outfielder Cory Sullivan. “But unfortunately it wasn’t us. I don’t think it’s demoralizing because we played a great game.”
Holy humidor. The Rockies waited 11 years for the first 1-0 game at Coors Field, and Tuesday they held the equivalent of two in the same night. It mercifully ended at 12:26 a.m. thanks to Luis Gonzalez’s slow-rolling single up the middle.
That meshed perfectly with a deliberate pace that prompted many in the sparse announced crowd of 22,076 to leave long before the conclusion.
On the 482nd pitch Tuesday night, check that, Wednesday morning, Gonzalez topped reliever Ramon Ramirez’s 92 mph fastball, pushing Eric Byrnes home with the deciding run.
“It was the greatest 1-for-8 night of his life,” Byrnes said of Gonzalez’s hit.
Brandon Medders got the win, striking out Ryan Spilborghs with a runner on first base. It was one of 14 stranded by the Rockies, which explains how they spoiled another terrific, eight-inning outing by Jason Jennings.
The excitement didn’t match the achievement, a groggy celebration the most the Diamondbacks could muster. After playing a night-day doubleheader, even the hair on their head seemed tired.
The game came with notable distinctions sandwiched around oddities. It featured Josh Fogg pinch-hitting, reliever Ramon Ramirez batting.
There was a 14th-inning stretch and an over-the-shoulder catch by shortstop Clint Barmes 50 yards into left field. Before Gonzalez’s pivotal hit, the stragglers remaining in the stands serenaded him with chants of “Gone-Zo!” After he reached base, a fan in the second deck, as if talking to his neighbors, begged them to shut up.
He was frustrated. It was hard to blame him.
Colorado went 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position. It didn’t help that cleanup hitter Matt Holliday missed the game with a bruised left wrist and is likely to sit out again Wednesday.
Nothing spoke more to the Rockies’ offensive absurdity than this: Jamey Carroll drove in Colorado’s lone run on a double play groundout, the highlight of his 0-for-8 game that featured a combined 124 at-bats, including 61 for the Rockies.
After Carroll’s out, nearly 100 batters had an opportunity and came up empty.
Gas prices, meanwhile, presumably rose 3 cents per gallon.
This game’s significance was apparent before its length. Both teams are knee deep in the National League West race. Colorado is fourth in the division, sitting 5 1/2 games behind the white-hot Los Angles Dodgers and three back from the Cincinnati Reds in the wild-card chase.
Manager Clint Hurdle acknowledged before the game that goals have shifted, with more focus on victories than development.
“If I had to lean one way or the other, as the number of games continue to shrink, I think I would say that definitely we are going to do what we need to do to win a ballgame,” Hurdle said before adding after the marathon, “Not in my wildest dreams (Did I think I would see a 2-1, 18-inning game at Coors Field). I believe it now, because I lived it, as you all did. I was a part of it. Like I said before, we are going to do the best we can with what we have, today and tomorrow. That’s what we did tonight.”
On this night they made history, but lost ground.
Staff writer Patrick Saunders contributed to this report.
Staff writer Troy E. Renck can be reached at 303-820-5457 or trenck@denverpost.com.
