On May 1, 1920, the Brooklyn Robins and Boston Braves battled it out for 26 innings at Braves Field in what still stands today as the longest game in MLB history.
A pitchers’ duel early on, Robins starter Leon Cadore and Braves starter Joe Oeschger traded zeros through four frames.
The two teams were locked in a scoreless tie until the top of the fifth inning, when Ivy Olson’s RBI single put the Robins on the scoreboard.
Brooklyn’s 1-0 advantage would last for only an inning, as later in the bottom of the sixth, Tony Boeckel’s two-out RBI single enabled Boston to even up the score.
It proved to be the last run for either team that evening. For the next 20 innings, Cadore and Oeschger did not allow another baserunner to cross home plate.
At the end of the 26th, the umpires gathered together and decided to call the game due to darkness. The duration of the contest was only three hours and 50 minutes; For comparison, the average time of a nine-inning game in 2019 was three hours and five minutes.
In 26 innings of work, Ladore yielded 15 hits, five walks and the one run with seven strikeouts. Similarly going the distance, Oeschger allowed just nine hits, four walks and one run in seven innings — lowering his ERA to a league-best 0.49 in the process.
Five Robins players accumulated 10 at-bats in the contest, and two of them went hitless (Chuck Ward, Ladore). Of the 11 players to receive a plate appearance, Jimmy Johnston and Zack Wheat were the only ones to collect multiple hits (two apiece).
Charlie Pick was the only position player in the Braves starting lineup to not reach the hit column, going 0-for-11. On the flip side, Boeckel and Rabbit Maranville both led the way with a game-high three hits.
Because a winner wasn’t decided, the Robins and Braves were forced to make up the contest two days later on May 3. In what turned out to be another marathon, Boston defeated Brooklyn, 2-1, in 19 innings.
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