NEW YORK: In the longest major league game in more than three years, Adeiny Hechavarria hit an RBI single in the 20th inning and the Miami Marlins outlasted the New York Mets 2-1 on Saturday, well after Matt Harvey left with lower back tightness following another stingy start.
Steve Cishek retired Daniel Murphy on a fly ball to the left-field warning track for the final out of a game that took 6 hours, 25 minutes. It started 5½ hours before the Belmont Stakes — about 13 miles away — and still ended around an hour after winner Palace Malice crossed the finish line.
The last big league game to last as long also involved the Mets, according to STATS. It came when they beat St. Louis 2-1 in 20 innings on April 17, 2010.
It was the longest game by far in the history of Citi Field, which opened in 2009, and it matched the longest in Marlins history — a 7-6 loss to the Cardinals in 20 innings on April 27, 2003.
Harvey and Miami’s prized rookie, Jose Fernandez, hooked up in a pitchers’ duel early. And when neither punchless lineup could break a 1-all tie, the only savior for both teams was that neither had played since Wednesday, so they had fresh arms in the bullpen.
By the 13th inning, the game had been turned over to a pair of starters: Miami’s Kevin Slowey (2-5) and Shaun Marcum (0-7) for the Mets. Both were originally scheduled to start Saturday before getting skipped when Friday night’s game was rained out.
Pirates 6 Cubs 2: In Chicago, A.J. Burnett pitched into the ninth inning and Pedro Alvarez and Russell Martin homered to lead Pittsburgh over Chicago.
Burnett (4-6) gave up four hits and three walks with five strikeouts in 8 1-3 innings to improve to 5-0 in his career at Wrigley Field. He had a shutout until Alfonso Soriano’s two-run home run to left with one out in the ninth ended a string of 18 straight scoreless innings by Pirates pitchers.
Burnett held the Cubs hitless until Nate Schierholtz’s double down the line in right leading off the fifth. He threw 112 pitches and left after Soriano’s home run.
Padres 4 Rockies 2: In Denver, Kyle Blanks hit a two-run homer off the foul screen and Eric Stults tossed seven solid innings, helping San Diego to the victory over Colorado.
Everth Cabrera had three hits, including a bloop RBI double, and stole two more bases, running his season total to a major league-leading 28.
Jeff Francis (2-4) struggled in his first start since coming off the disabled list with a strained left groin. He allowed four runs and six hits in four innings.
Brewers 4 Phillies 3: In Milwaukee, Jean Segura homered and Jonathan Lucroy hit a tiebreaking RBI double in the sixth inning, lifting Milwaukee past Philadelphia.
Domonic Brown hit his NL-leading 19th home run, and had a two-run double in the eighth to account for all of the Phillies’ runs.
Tyler Thornburg (1-0) pitched two innings of scoreless relief to earn his first major league victory. A top prospect for the Brewers coming into the season, he joined the team Wednesday despite going 0-7 with a 6.75 ERA in 12 starts for Triple-A Nashville.
Francisco Rodriguez pitched the ninth for his fourth save in four chances.
Reds 4 Cardinals 2: In Cincinnati, Mat Latos turned in seven solid innings and Cincinnati broke out of its slump to beat St. Louis.
Devin Mesoraco homered and drove in two runs, and Jay Bruce also homered as the Reds snapped a three-game losing streak and scored more than two runs against St. Louis for the first time in the last seven games between the teams.
