The longest day

Hisashi Iwakuma took to the mound yesterday looking to pitch a great game in order for the Mariners to get the sweep of the White Sox. Iwakuma had a very easy first inning as he went 1-2-3 after giving up a lead off single to Alejandro De Aze. The Mariners in their half of the first were able to get Jason Bay and Kyle Seager on with singles with only one out but Kendrys Morales grounded into an inning ending double play to end the threat. Both the White Sox and the Mariners wouldn't show any sign of a threat until the bottom of the fourth, Seager lead things off with his eighteenth double of the year and after Morales grounded out to move Seager over to third Nick Franklin flew out to Alex Rios and on the throw home from Rios cut Seager down to end the inning for the Mariners.

The Mariners would then threaten to score again in the bottom of the sixth inning. Michael Saunders lead off the inning with a walk, Brendan Ryan then was able to get on first after a soft ground ball to pitcher Dylan Axelrod and following that Endy Chavez drew a walk to load the bases up, Jason Bay then grounded into the third inning ending double play to end the threat again for the Mariners. In the top of the ninth inning Iwakuma's day was done so manager Eric Wedge gave the ball off to Yoervis Medina. Medina allowed the lead off single to Gordon Beckham he was able to get Hector Gimenez to pop out on a bunt attempt, De Aze to fly out and finally Alexi Ramirez to fly out to end the top of the ninth for the White Sox. Nick Franklin lead off the bottom of the ninth by blooping a ball down the right field line and legging out the double to put himself on second to win the game on any type of base hit. The White Sox pitching was able to avoid the walk off win by striking Michael Saunders, Kelly Shoppach and getting Brendan Ryan to ground out.

So, we move one to extra innings. Alex Rios got things started off for the White Sox by getting to second base on an error by Chavez. Medina then intentionally walked Adam Dunn to bring up Paul Konerko. Medina was able to get Konerko to ground into a double play, after that Wedge made a pitching change and brought in Charlie Furbush to face Casper Wells. Furbush got the job done by getting Wells to ground out to Morales to end the threat by Chicago. The Mariners were able to get runners at the corners in the bottom of the tenth but Raul Ibanez failed to get the winning run home to leave the runners out there without scoring and so the game moved into the eleventh inning. Carter Capps took to the mound in the eleventh. Capps got into a jam after giving up a one out single to Gordon Beckham and intentionally walking De Aze. Capps was able to get Ramirez to ground out and end yet another threat by the White Sox.

The Mariners went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the eleventh inning so the game went deeper into extras. Alex Rios started out the top of the twelfth inning by singling, Wedge decided to make a pitching change and bring in Oliver Perez, Perez was able to get Adam Dunn to fly out and for some odd reason Wedge made his second pitching change in the inning and brought in Danny Farquhar to face Paul Konerko. Farquhar got Konerko to fly out and on the play Rios missed touching second base and Farquhar threw it back to second base and Rios was called out to end the top of the twelfth inning. Both teams wouldn't make any noise for the next few innings until the fourteenth inning.

In the top of the fourteenth inning the White Sox got their first two hitters on base by via of a walk and a single. Rios was able to drive in the first run of the game on line drive to center and after Farquhar intentionally walked Dunn Wedge came out to bring in Hector Noesi. Noesi was able to get his first batter to ground into a force out as Seager threw to home to get the runner. Casper Wells then would single home Rios to give Chicago the 2-0 lead. Chicago would not be done there, Jeff Keppinger singled home the third run and Hector Gimenez doubled home two extra runs and after the inning was over the White Sox had a commanding 5-0 lead. In the bottom of the fourteenth inning Addison Reed was brought in to finish the game. 

After getting Franklin to pop out Michael Saunders was able to get his first hit of the game by singling, Kelly Shoppach, Brendan Ryan, and Endy Chavez would all get singles to get the first run home for the Mariners. Jason Bay would strikeout to bring up Kyle Seager as the last hope for the Mariners. Seager tried to tie the game up on the secon pitch he saw from Reed by fouling it off, after letting one go by putting the count to 1-2 Kyle Seager swung at a low pitch and drove it out into the center field seats and Seager not only tied the game but he also became the first player in baseball history to tie a game with a grand slam in extra innings.

The Mariners would threaten to win the game in the bottom of the fifteenth inning but couldn't get the run home. The White Sox would then get to an exhausted Noesi to score two runs in the top of the sixteenth inning and the Mariners would not score in the bottom half of the inning and the White Sox would win the longest game in Mariners history. The game ended after 5 hours and 42 minutes of back and forth baseball.

Now, looking back at this game Eric Wedge made some poor managerial skills by taking out Charlie Furbush and Oliver Perez after they only faced one hitter. Furbush and Perez both could've gone 3-4 innings and would've saved some of the bullpen for the Mariners.

NOTES: Seager extended his hitting streak to 9 game and Morales extend his hitting streak to 7 games.