MINNEAPOLIS — After a game that lasted more than five hours on Monday night, the Minnesota Twins emerged victorious over the Cincinnati Reds, 7-5.
According to MLB.com, the team tapped Miguel Sanó as a pinch-runner for the first time in his career in a game that just went on, and on, and on.
Previously, the longest game of 2021 had been a five-hour, eight-minute battle between the Houston Astros and the San Diego Padres on May 29. In fact, it was the longest game in baseball since the new extra-innings rules were introduced before the 2020 season, and the longest by time since the Cardinals and Diamondbacks played six hours and 53 minutes, and the Rockies and Giants played five hours and 31 minutes on Sept. 24, 2019.
At the end of the night, Sanó was also the player to close out the victory for the Twins, a team known for their home-run hitting power, by hitting a two-run homer and clinching the team's win.
“You reach the point where you go from good to maybe a little tired, then you get that weird energy where you start doing and saying weird stuff that you don’t normally think about or talk about,” manager Rocco Baldelli told MLB.com. “Then, depending on what’s going on in the game, you either find the second or third burst, or there’s a lull.”
The game was was the fifth straight victory for the Twins, and the fifth loss in a row for the Reds. The Twins earned their fourth consecutive extra-innings win after eight straight losses in extras to start the season.
Unfortunately Byron Buxton suffered a facture to his left hand in a hit-by-pitch, returning him to the injured list his first game back, after spending time out for an injury to his hip.
